Lost in Time and Space
by QueenofScales94
Summary: Thrown from the modern world into a foreign one teeming with danger, Evelyn Turner has to find her place in this new world. In the face of distrust, intrigue, and a lack of modern conveniences, can she survive?
1. Arrival

The pungent smell of gasoline hung in the air as Evelyn leaned against her silver Volkswagen. Her eyes focused on an ad for a soft drink on the gas pump's payment screen still not fully adjusted to the bright lights overhead compared to her headlights after hours of driving in darkness. A loud metallic click broke her trance as she moved to return the gas nozzle to its rightful place on the pump. Climbing into the driver seat she checked the time.

01:34.

She turned the key and lights came to life. Looking at the center console she waited until the Bluetooth signal showed her phone connected to the radio. With a press of a button on the steering wheel a high-pitched ring came from the speakers.

"Call Ally" Evelyn said out loud.

A friendly female voice repeated, "calling Ally." Three rings played over the car's speakers as Evelyn massaged her temples with one hand.

"E-V" a drowsy voice answered. After a comically obvious yawn the speaker continued, "what are you doing up so late? You woke me up." Evelyn felt her face form a small smile and moved her hand from her face to rest on the steering wheel.

"Give me a break Ally, we both know you stay up until 3 watching Netflix all the time."

"Alright, you caught me," Ally chuckled. "Are you ready for our camping trip tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I have almost everything packed but wanted to grab some snacks while I'm at the gas station. I'm not going to be able to make it to your place before 5 so I thought I'd tell you not to worry if I'm not there when you wake up tomorrow."

"What do you mean not here," Ally asked concern evident in her voice. "I gave you a spare key to get in in case I was asleep."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I'm exhausted, I don't even think coffee will be enough to keep me up. I'm just going to crash in the nearest Walmart parking lot. It's safer that way. Before I go, are there any snacks you want for the trip?"

"Well it's not like I can stop you but I don't want you getting killed. Park under a light, ok?"

"I'll be fine," Eveyln assured. "Now, food. What do you want? I wanna get to la la land already."

"I already got what I wanted, but you can grab stuff for smores if you want though."

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow then, don't stay up too late dork."

"Who you calling a dork? Nerd." Ally's smile could be heard in her tone. "Sleep tight, you want to look your best tomorrow for Dave." Before Evelyn could snap back a reply the beeping of a dropped call echoed in the car.

"Bitch" Evelyn laughed out. She felt her face warm from the blush spreading across her cheeks. "Ah, pull yourself together." She turned the engine on and moved her car to a parking spot in front of the store. Might as well grab some breakfast for tomorrow.

With a bag full of trail mix, granola bars, bear claws, and some orange juice, Evelyn returned to her car. Turning on the car once again, she searched for the nearest Walmart and made her way to it. Arriving in the parking lot, she saw a corner slightly hidden behind foliage and decided to park there. With her spot carefully chosen and a quick glance for anything suspicious in the dark she turned her car off, unbuckled her seat belt, adjusted her seat back and draped the black leather coat on the passenger seat over her chest as a makeshift blanket. Although not the comfiest "bed" she ever laid in, her exhaustion gave way to sleep quickly enough.

* * *

Knocking. Heavy repeated thuds of something hitting the window caused Evelyn to stir in her sleep. Opening one eye to the bright sunlight she groaned.

"Knock it off buddy, it's not illegal to sleep in-" with her eyes adjusted to the light Evelyn looked to her left. She jumped at the sight before her. No longer in a parking lot, she was in the middle of an open field with trees sparsely decorated along the countryside. To make matters worse an unfamiliar man with large razor-like swords in each hand stood outside her window knocking the glass with the butt of the sword which seemed to be attached to something with a wire. He wore a dark green cape with some form of uniform visible underneath where his arm was raised. Looking around she saw two others dressed in the same fashion on horseback on either side of the car with their blades drawn; a yellow trail of smoke above one's head.

"Hey!" the man to her left called out "Are you alright in there? What is this thing, is it hurting you?" The man pulled his arm back in preparation for another swing.

"Stop!" Evelyn cried out causing him to freeze.

"Don't trust her, she could be working with the titans!" One of the men on horseback called and began to charge the car. Evelyn spun forward and turned the engine. The car roared into life. Shattered glass flew against the left side of her face but she slammed the car into gear and kicked in the gas pedal. The charging horse veered to the side, spooked. Evelyn sped past the second man on horseback who sat there stunned.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Evelyn's wide eyes searched the rear view mirror for movement. The first man on horseback had turned around and was chasing the car while the others began to follow suit. They quickly faded into small spots on the horizon behind her. The speedometer read 70 mph. Evelyn slowed down to take in her surroundings but couldn't think of a better plan than simply driving straight ahead. Her paranoia caused her to keep checking the rear-view mirror and her blind spot.

Suddenly the car tried to stop and lurched violently forward. The airbag went off and Evelyn's upper body collided into it. After a short recovery she leaned back and rubbed her face. Moving her cupped hands in front of her she saw small smears of blood on her left hand.

The car had gotten stuck on a small hill with the right back tire hanging in the air. The back tire on the left was barely on the hill but didn't have enough traction to move the car onward. Seeing the tracks left behind by the car Evelyn panicked.

A forest 50 feet to her right stood out to her. Knowing she'd have to abandon the car, she reached into the glove box and retrieved the semi-automatic pistol she kept there for protection as well as the magazine she kept separate to prevent accidents.

Jumping out the driver side door, her leather jacket tripped her. She quickly caught herself and ran towards the cover of the trees.


	2. First Contact

Tree. Tree. Rock face. Tree. Leg. Tree. Cave opening. Bingo!

Slowing her pace Evelyn froze, her blood turning to ice. Her head turned slowly to look behind her, a new fear surging throughout her body. Locking onto two eyes, Evelyn fought to turn forward and compel the useless weights attached to her legs to move. Her eyes widened, her mouth fell open, and a nearly inaudible squeak slipped out. Eyes as large as her body glared at her. The head they belonged to looked through two pillars of flesh, its permanent frown resembling an evil smile while upside down.

As giant began to straighten itself, Evelyn found its spell broken. Rushing towards the cave opening, her balance wavered as the earth shook from thunderous footsteps. A shadow of a hand stretched out past her. Instinctively, she dove into some bushes to her left; a swift breeze rustled the thin branches. The cave stood a sprint away; with no other options Evelyn took the gamble. Burning with the strain placed onto them, her legs gave out once she lunged herself onto the cave floor. Two fingers wormed their way after her, plunging the cave opening into darkness and missing her by mere inches. Praying there were no wolves or bears she felt her way to a wall and melded with it as best she could.

_Oh fuck! Where the hell am I?_

* * *

"Report" Erwin wasn't sure what to think. Not only did a messenger ride to his command squad in the long range formation, but they adamantly insisted he should follow them.

"Commander, something strange was spotted at the left rear side of the formation. It's of unknown origins and I simply don't know how to describe it."

Erwin's eyes narrowed. "The entire battalion is exposed and vulnerable to titan attack; our mission takes precedent over an unknown variable."

"With respect sir, this is something we've never seen before. The thing ran faster than our horses. The closest squad leader, Hange, was informed of the finding and they broke formation to investigate."

Suppressing his surprise at something being able to out run the special bred scouting horses, Erwin gritted his teeth knowing Hange would risk her safety and thus that of the battalion for anything that could be used to learn about the titans. Although, this did not seem related to them. And yet, he could not deny his own curiosity as this could possibly hold answers of the world outside the walls.

* * *

"Captain," Petra called forward seeing the green flare from the command squad signal to turn left a second time. "Are we turning around? I thought we were supposed to set up scouting outposts."

"That was the idea, what's the point in retreating?" Gunther yelled over the roar of the wind.

"Commander Erwin is calling the shots. He'll have his reasons." Captain Levi called back focusing on moving forward. Meanwhile, a solider rode towards his squad.

Falling in just behind Levi, the solider began, "Captain Levi! Commander Erwin has ordered for your squad to ride ahead and meet with the command squad. He suspects that squad leader Hange broke formation to investigate a strange finding on the titans. I can lead you towards them."

_Tch. That reckless four-eyes._

* * *

"Just look at this glorious contraption!" Hange yelled with her head inside the driver's side of the abandoned car, the door wide open and her eyes greedily soaking up everything in sight. "What's this wheel for?" She yanked the steering wheel towards her before trying to turn it in the opposite direction but the wheel locked into place. "Why. Won't. This. Move?!"

Leaving the wheel alone her attention turned to the main console. "Radio, media, phone, what does that mean?" Hange's fingers brushed against each word as she said them out loud, accidently pushing one in. "They push in." Pushing each button in turn in, Hange pushed in a button on a knob with a symbol of a circle with a line running through the top. The blank, black square in the middle of the buttons illuminated on its own with a symbol matching the one on the strange wheel. Soon after, a strange hissing sound erupted from all around her causing her to fall backwards in surprise.

"Squad commander! Stop! You're making it angry!" Hange's assistant, Moblit, yelled over Hange's hysterical laughter.

"Are you mad at me?" Hange ran her hand along the side of the closed back passenger door.

"Hange!" Erwin called as he rode onto the scene. Dismounting and walking towards the car he took in the sight of it. "What have you found?"

"Commander!" Hange's head tilted backward, a triumphant smile on her face. "Isn't this amazing? It looks like it's fully metal and glass on the outside with seating inside. It seems to be some form of transportation with the strange wheels. There's a bunch of bags in the back half and it may be trying to communicate with us!" She wrapped her arms around herself and squealed in delight.

"I was told there was a person inside, where are they?" Erwin reached to touch the strange machine himself.

"I don't know anything about a person, this beauty was empty when I got here." Hange began to stand up when the feeling of something under her boots caused her to look down. "Huh? What's this?" She picked up a jacket made of leather and held it in front of her. "What do you think? It looks like it's my size!"

"Why leave this contraption behind if it runs faster than horses? Abandoning supplies makes no sense either unless they were running from something. Could the soldiers be the cause of this flight? " Erwin muttered to himself. Looking across the landscape his eyes fell on the nearby forest.

"It's a bit tight, but goes on smooth. What's this lining made of?" Hange turned in a circle admiring the jacket.

"What are you wearing?" Levi came riding up with his squad behind her.

"You think it suits me?" Hange held her arms out proudly.

"Your uniform is dirty enough, the last thing you need is something else to ruin." Levi shot back with an uninterested look. Appraising the scene before him, his attention turned to his commander.

"Levi," Erwin turned to face the man. "Head into the forest with your squad. There may be a person on the run. I want them found and brought here."

"You heard the man," Levi yelled backwards. "Move out!"

* * *

Rays of light bounced off the cave walls in different directions as the giant fingers searched for their prey. Hugging her legs while sitting on the floor, Evelyn looked up from her knees after the fingers fell limply to the floor. Steam filled the cave as they slowly began to disintegrate and caused her eyes to tear up. Sprawling out onto the cave floor to avoid breathing in the rising gas, Evelyn crawled forward cautiously suppressing the urge to poke at the nearly evaporated bones before her.

"Oi! If there's someone in there, get out!" a male voice called from just barely audible over the hissing bouncing off the cave walls.

Stunned, Evelyn observed the last bits of bone float into nothing, not daring to go near them.

"Captain, I don't think there is anyone there," a female voice called from outside.

"That titan wouldn't have been that active for nothing," a third voice shouted.

"I said. Get. Out!" The first voice no longer hid its anger. Evelyn climbed to her feet and held her pistol to her chest. Moving towards the opening and letting her eyes adjust to the harsh light she aimed the pistol ready to defend herself.

"Who are you? Where the hell am I?" Evelyn yelled using what she could of the cave entrance as cover. Looking around she saw five people dressed the same as the men she first encountered.

"We're the ones asking the questions around here," an older man with short, light brown hair and a cravat began walking quickly towards her. Evelyn shot the ground in front of his feet.

_Nine._

The man jumped back biting his tongue. "Like hell you are! Back off!" Evelyn's eyes darted between each person as their expressions darkened.

A second man with blonde hair and a small beard came running forward. "Quick before she reloads," she shot at the ground before him as well.

_Eight._

"I said back off! I'm done with warning shots. I'll ask this one more time, who are you? Where am I? And what in the fuck was that giant?"

"You want answers? Put the gun down and come with us! Maybe we'll answer your questions if you answer ours." A short man with raven black hair yelled.

"Like hell I would go with you, let alone trust you!" Evelyn roared.

"If you want to end up as titan shit be my guest, we're leaving. I'm not risking my team for an ungrateful shit." The short man turned and began walking back into the forest. With nervous and panicked looks, the rest followed suit. Wires shot out towards the forest from the two men who previously advanced towards Evelyn and she froze in amazement as they were propelled forward. The other woman turned around to look towards Evelyn, her hand clutched in front of her chest, before turning back to follow the short man away.

_Fuck!_

"Wait!" Evelyn ran forwards, the pistol pointed at the ground. "Hold on!" Once Evelyn found the people again they were mounted on horseback. Panting with her hands on her knees she spoke, "if I go with you, you'll explain what's going on here?"

"You'll get answers when we do." The short man said from the back of a black stallion facing away from her.

"Why can't we do this here?" Evelyn asked suspicious.

"Are you insane?" A man with cropped brown hair spoke. "We're in the middle of titan territory."

The short man turned his horse towards Evelyn. "Disarm and ride with Eld," the man motioned to the blonde haired man with the beard with his head. "We'll take you to someone with more patience for this."

Evelyn took a moment to size up the strange people around her and pointed at the other female. "You want me to go with you? Then I ride with her."

* * *

**So here's the obligatory thanks for the reviews. I'm not going to promise to post on a schedule as I can never hold myself to them. But in all seriousness, thanks for checking my story out. I thought I'd have some fun writing something random and I'm glad to hear this idea interests others as well.**

**Just in case editing this triggers e-mails being sent, I just fixed some gender issues in the writing. Please disregard my bad editing skills.**


	3. Introductions

Riding behind Petra and the strange woman, Levi couldn't help but stare at the woman's back.

She was pale with light brown hair that curled down past her shoulders, blonde highlights reflected the sun once in a while when the tree cover was interrupted. But what truly drew his attention was the strange clothing she wore. Dark blue pants that were seemingly made from a rough fabric and had faded on the knees with what he could only assume were pockets on the back with light brown embellishments sewn on. While hooded garments weren't uncommon to see, what did stand out were two long strands of strange, small metal projections on either side of the front of the dark red article. Her black boots were the only thing somewhat familiar as they were obviously made of leather. There were two black metal spikes coming out of her skin on the top and bottom of her right eyebrow as well as two black metallic circles standing upwards at the top of her left ear.

Beyond clothing, Levi had never encountered a gun that could fire multiple shots without a lengthy reload period, let alone in such a small size. It was obviously a gun from the impact of the bullets on the ground and the noise. The noise that may well have drawn more attention from the titans. Breaking his gaze from the woman, Levi scanned the woods for hidden threats. Nothing, yet.

When the female handed the gun to him, she had ejected something from the handle after removing a small bullet from the barrel and pushed that bullet into the ejected item. The gun, tucked into the back of his uniform's waistband, was surprisingly light. After the woman had tucked the metal piece with the bullet into her pocket, she pointed the gun to the ground and pulled the trigger multiple times. Audible clicks could be heard before she held it up for Levi to take, her dark blue eyes narrow and a scowl on her lips.

_Quite distrustful. 'suppose I would be too._

* * *

"What did you do to my stuff?" Evelyn shouted in shock as the group came in sight of the stuck car. Petra flinched but held her horse steady. All the car doors were open, the radio played static, and Evelyn's bags were strewn across the ground with some brunette woman digging through her duffel bag.

"Get out of there!" Evelyn jumped from the horse she was on but fell out of inexperience and rolled her ankle. Cradling it, she slowly moved it to check for pain.

A shadow fell over her and she saw the brunette standing over her with a hand out. "You ok? That looks like it hurt."

"I'm fine," Evelyn reluctantly took the woman's hand, "who are you people and what are you doing rifling through my things?" Returning to her feet, she examined the woman closer, heat quickly spread through her face. "Why, _**the hell,**_ are you wearing _**my**_ jacket?"

"Sorry, I got a little excited," the woman said quickly taking off the leather jacket and holding it out for Evelyn; who instantly snatched it away while glaring at the woman. "I'm Zoë Hange, Squad Leader in the Survey Corps. You have to tell me, what is this magnificent specimen behind me? What's it used for, how do we turn it on, what's it trying to communicate?" Hange held her hands together with her arms stretched out, almost begging, with a wild look in her eyes. Evelyn took a cautious step back unsure what to do or say to the enthusiastic woman.

"Please forgive Hange, she can become quite excited with new discoveries. I am Erwin Smith, Commander of the Survey Corps. We have our own questions for you, beginning with who you are and why you are outside of the walls with unfamiliar technology."

"Unfamiliar technology? Walls? What are you talking about?" Evelyn looked for any sign of a prank on the multitude of faces staring at her.

"He asked you who you are," the short raven haired man from the forest spoke. He had dismounted and held the reins of his horse casually in his right hand.

Biting her lip, Evelyn sighed and introduced herself, "I'm Evelyn Turner, I don't have any fancy titles."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Turner, but that did not answer my question of who you are. Where did you come from?" Erwin's gaze narrowed.

"Just call me Evelyn. I'm German-American if that's what you want to know. You still haven't told me where I am by the way. I went to sleep in a parking lot and, this," Evelyn motioned around her, "this is **not** a parking lot."

"I'm unfamiliar with what a German-American is? Nor do I have any knowledge on parking lots. I ask once again, who are you and what are you doing here?" Erwin's tone grew more demanding.

"How in the hell do you not know about America? The home of the free, the land of the brave, and all that crap. For crying out loud, every person on the planet knows America! Hollywood, BBQ, cheese burgers, monster trucks, is nothing here ringing any bells?" Evelyn's expression morphed into one of disbelief and frustration. "What about Oktoberfest, beer, lederhosen, or currywurst?"

"I can assure you, nothing you said is familiar to us." Erwin stated.

"Tell me more!" Hange squealed with delight.

Evelyn jumped back and instinctively covered her ears. "Alright, I've had it with you LARPing weirdos. Just tell me where I am so I can get to my friend's place." Evelyn stomped towards her car. She didn't hear the sound of metal scraping against metal behind her, and froze when a long blade touched the side of her right knee.

"Take another step and I'll cut your legs off," the gruff voice of the raven haired man growled behind her.

"Levi!" Erwin called, his tone reprimanding. "We will accomplish little though intimidation."

Hearing a frustrated scoff and feeling the blade's presence removed, Evelyn turned again towards Erwin, outraged.

"You are outside of the walls that protect the remnants of humanity from the titans." Evelyn's left eyebrow rose in response to Erwin's words. Remembering the giant humanoid in the forest, her curiosity peaked. "We'd like to learn more about you and where you came from. However, it is dangerous to discuss this in the open as we are vulnerable to attack. Would you be willing to travel with us to a safer area to continue this discussion along with your machine?"

"What do you mean by safer? We're in the middle of nowhere." Evelyn scoffed.

"There's more titans wanting their dinner out here brat," Levi growled.

"Wait," concern laced Evelyn's words, "there's more of those giant monsters?"

"Yes, and learning more about you and this machine may benefit humanity in defeating them." Erwin's attention turned to the red smoke in the distance. "We must leave as soon as possible."

"That _**machine**_ is called a car. I don't know what game you're playing at but if you help me, I'll play along. Threaten me again and I'm calling the cops. Now, help me get the car back up and running and I'll follow you, for now." Evelyn began picking up the bags on the ground.

"While I'm sure you will hold true to that, you understand we cannot leave you unsupervised?" Erwin spoke. Evelyn shot a glare towards him.

"Oh please, let me go with you!" Hange kneeled down to Evelyn's position and grabbed her hands. "I want to know everything!" Evelyn struggled to respond, her eyes staring at a bit of drool escaping the other woman's mouth. Distressed croaks escaped Evelyn's throat as her words failed her.

"Keep freaking her out, see where that gets you," Levi said.

"I'm not freaking her out." Hange, insulted, looked towards him before returning her gaze to Evelyn. Speaking softly she asked, "am I?" Evelyn shook her head up and down frantically with wide eyes.

"Enough chatter," Erwin commanded impatiently. "We cannot afford to spend more time exposed. Hange. Keep your excitement under control. I shall prepare for the battalion to embark again shortly. Hange, Levi, one of you escort Miss Turner. Be ready to leave when I give the signal."

"Not you!" Evelyn yelped looking Hange in the eyes and jerking her hands out of Hange's grip.

"Why not?" Hange pouted.

"What do you mean why not?" Evelyn's hands shot up in frustrated confusion. "You're fucking weird. I'm anxious enough without you adding to it. I'm not exactly ecstatic about the armed psycho either." Evelyn looked towards Levi.

Levi scoffed in reply. "We have our orders; one of us is going with you."

Taking a deep breath Evelyn looked at the askew car. "Whatever we do, we need to get the car back on even ground. Help me push it. Just get behind a door and push against the main body." Evelyn reached in the car and turned off the radio and put the car in neutral. Hange and Levi took up positions behind the passengers doors. "Start pushing," Evelyn grunted.

Once the car had traction, Evelyn began carefully removing the glass shards from the driver's seat and floor.

"Alright," Evelyn sighed. "Help me pack my stuff back in the car; I should be able to fit some in the trunk to make more room." Evelyn pushed the button to open the trunk. An excited squeal drew her attention.

Hange clapped her hands together and jumped excitedly, "how'd you do that?" Levi's hand rested on the handle of his stored blade.

Evelyn tilted her head to the side amused, "you guys have seriously never seen a car before have you?"

Hange shook her head, "nope!"

"Careful with that," Evelyn yelled at Levi as she saw him about to pick up her laptop bag.

"If you have a problem with what I do, why don't you do it yourself?" Levi glared coldly.

Remembering Erwin's words Evelyn rubbed her temples and sighed. "Does it really have to be one of you two that tags along?"

Hange's hand shot up. "I volunteer!"

Taking a deep breath, Evelyn gritted her teeth. "Fine, but you have to take those metal things off, you can't sit with them poking out." Hange recoiled, her eyebrows knitting together in contemplation. Levi scowled. "You can keep them in front of you if you'd like," Evelyn continued. Hange removed her gear and stored it on the floor of the passenger's side.

Once everything was safely returned to the car, Eveyln closed the back doors and climbed into the driver's seat. Looking towards Hange, who stood by the front passenger's door, she asked, "you coming or not?" Hange cautiously settled into the seat and pulled on the door handle. The door slammed shut and Hange jumped in her seat. "Woah! It's ok, that just means it's closed properly. Now, since this is your first time in a car, I'll tell you the golden rule."

Hange's head shot towards Eveyln, a hungry look in her eyes, "Yes, please!"

Evelyn turned the keys, turned down the stereo, and changed the media to the CD player. "Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts her cake hole." All the tension in Hange's body released at once as her eyebrows came together in confusion.


	4. Denial

"There's a small man in there that sings when I tell him to," Evelyn said, grinning. A relic from the 90s, her father had given her a Metallica CD she kept in the CD player for when there was nothing good on the radio.

Hange yelped in disbelief, "There is not!"

"Yes, there is. I push food through the air vents here when he gets hungry." Hange leaned forward peeking into the vents. Evelyn couldn't hold back her laughter any longer.

"I knew there was no such thing as a small man living in there." Hange said leaning back and adjusting her goggles.

"I'm sorry, I had to try." Evelyn chuckled. "So, you'll believe in giant man-eating monsters, but not small singers?"

"I can see the titans. And, while I don't understand how music is being played without a band, I have never seen tiny men." Hange said bending over and bringing her right ear closer to the speaker built into the car door.

"Whatever that is, silence it. You'll draw the titans here." Levi said next to the driver's side on horseback.

Turning the sound down to where the music could barely be heard Evelyn turned to face him. "That better, gramps?" Levi glared before riding off to join his squad.

Turning to face an amused Hange, Evelyn asked, "So what signal are we waiting for?"

"Look for a green flare, go towards to direction it is shot towards. Red flares means titans, and black flares are for abnormals." Hange explained while digging through the glove box.

"Do you people know nothing about manners?" Evelyn reached to shoo her hands away.

Annoyed, Hange asked, "what about you? The only things you've said have been commands, threats, and insults. If you want people to respect you, then respect them in return."

Taken aback, Evelyn sheepishly looked out the broken window. After a moment of silence, she spoke, "look, I woke up in the middle of nowhere instead of where I parked. Your friends, colleagues, or whatever, attacked my car and broke my window. When I fled for some defensive cover, I saw the impossible with a giant trying to grab me-"

"Eat you, you mean," Hange interrupted. "The titans want to eat us all."

Evelyn examined her face; Hange shrugged in reply.

"Great," Evelyn let out in a sarcastic tone, "that's even better!" After another brief moment of silence, she continued calmly, "you know we're alone. You can drop the act now and none of the others would know. Please, just tell me where I am."

"There is no act. What the commander told you is the truth," Hange said.

Evelyn sighed and reached behind Hange's seat to grab her backpack, hoping to figure out where she was with GPS. "Fine, keep your secrets."

A loud pop caused Evelyn to turn around. "That's the signal," Hange said.

Annoyed, Evelyn settled in for a possible long drive. Turning the keys further, confusion clouded her thoughts. "Why won't-" turning the steering wheel while trying the keys again, the wheel gave way and the engine roared into life. "Oh, the wheel lock must've engaged." She shifted into first gear, began moving forward, then shifted into second gear; reaching to shift to third gear, she consciously forced her right hand to rest on the wheel. A loud beeping sounded as she shifted into first gear and Evelyn looked toward Hange after a few seconds. "Put on your seat belt will you? Before we get yelled at again for making noise." Evelyn put her own seatbelt on while keeping an eye ahead.

Hange followed Evelyn's lead; slowly running a hand along the strap before pushing the metal clasp in the buckle. Looking out the windows, she said, "Slow down, you need to stay behind Levi squad."

"Now, how do you know that?" Evelyn asked struggling against her lead foot.

"The commander would've ordered a squad to keep up with us in case you went rogue. They're the only squad in sight besides mine as the commander's squad probably resumed their position at the front. I told Moblit to have my squad follow behind us. Levi squad is the special ops squad, so it would make sense for them to defend this precious discovery," Hange replied looking in the different mirrors.

"Wait," Evelyn chuckled, "you mean the violent pipsqueak is the leader of your elite soldiers?" After a brief moment of contemplation, she continued, "you know, I can see it. Dude, does have the air of someone that knows what he's capable of."

"What's a 'dude'?" Hange asked playing with her window; opening and closing it.

"Please, stop. That's super annoying," Evelyn looked at the excited female. "'Dude' is just another word for guy. By the way, do you have any idea where we're headed? I could really use something to drink."

Moving to play with the buttons on the central console, Hange said, "Our original mission was to establish more outposts for longer expeditions outside the walls. Then, we ran into you. If I'm correct, we're heading back where we came from. There's an outpost about a two-hour ride from here that we left earlier this morning. It's possible we're headed there."

"If I show you where you can learn everything you could possibly want to know about the car, will you stop pushing every button in sight?" Evelyn asked, feeling as if she were traveling with a young child. "Also, I hate to break this to you, but this car is only going to go so far without needing more gas. And someone," Evelyn briefly looked at Hange, "won't tell me where I am, so that I can find more."

Hange looked dreamily at Evelyn "Everything I could want to know?" Her expression grew serious and demanding, "tell me where this is! Does it also describe this 'gas'; if it is the same as our ODM gear, we can probably spare some."

"Open the glovebox, the small compartment I told you not to play with earlier, the car manual is in there somewhere. By gear, you mean those grappling things everyone wears on their thighs?" Evelyn glanced at the metal items in front of Hange.

Hands rummaging through the glove box, Hange replied, "Yes, they use a compressed gas to propel the user forward or really just where ever depending on how it's used."

Evelyn sighed, "not gas as in gas, gas as in gasoline. You know, the fossil fuel."

Finding the manual, Hange closed the glove box and immediately began flipping through the pages. "No clue what that is," she mumbled distractedly.

Evelyn, grateful for the distraction turned up the music just a tiny bit. She could have sworn she saw Levi's head shaking faintly left and right in the distance.

* * *

The last hour-and-a-half were filled with questions about what certain words meant. Sometimes, this meant Evelyn had to explain entire concepts from their invention. The CD player was a particularly long discussion as Evelyn had to start at the beginning with Thomas Edison recording sound for the first time and then how Alexander Graham Bell improved upon the idea. Evelyn had hoped to avoid discussion on the telephone, but it didn't take long for Hange to ask what a "Bluetooth" was. Evelyn munching on a bear claw and drinking orange juice had also started an avalanche of questions about plastics.

A rider from further ahead in the formation had fallen in line with Levi squad. Levi had then slowed his pace, unlike the rest of his squad, to allow the car to catch up.

Matching the car's speed as he rode next to the car window he yelled over the wind and engine, "Follow us, the commander wants to keep this situation under wraps for as long as we can." Evelyn's face deadpanned.

_Sure, keep the car secret, it's not like everyone doesn't know about them anyway. They probably just don't want to give the others a chance to break character._

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Evelyn waved him off and let off the gas pedal. She could see Hange's squad following in the rear view, now with two rider-less horses in tow.

Pulling up to an abandoned farmhouse, Evelyn stopped as Levi had signaled them to halt. Coming up to the driver's side again he said, "We'll open the barn. Move this thing in there and Erwin will meetup with us in a bit." Rolling her eyes Evelyn nodded and parked the car in the barn.

Once outside the car, Evelyn stretched out her arms and legs. A young man rode up to Hange with a second horse in tow. "Is everything alright, section commander," he asked as she exited the car.

"That was amazing," Hange yelled. "I learned so much on what this beauty can do. It was actually very comfortable too."

Evelyn opened the back passenger door on the left and pulled her backpack out. Retrieving her phone, she exited the barn hoping to get a better signal. Finding no signal outside either, she opened a GPS app she downloaded in preparation for the hiking trip. It reported having no GPS connection.

"Oh, what's that," Hange asked from behind Evelyn causing her to jump in shock.

Placing a hand over her heart, Evelyn asked, "remember our conversation about phones?" Hange nodded. "This is mine, and it's rude to look over someone's shoulder like that."

Evelyn's attention was drawn to the stables where the other people were taking care of their horses. Outside the stables, Levi stood petting his stallion. Evelyn quickly opened her camera app to take a picture of the light-hearted moment from the person she thought the least likely to display this behavior. The horse licked his hand as the shutter closed.

"How did you do that!" Hange yelled reaching out for the phone. Evelyn spun out of the way just in time.

"Grabbing someone's phone is even worse than peeping," Evelyn gritted her teeth.

Hange reached again for the phone. "What was that? How could it see Captain Levi and his horse?"

If Hange's commotion to grab Evelyn's phone hadn't grabbed Levi's attention, hearing his name sure did. Evelyn felt another presence behind her after the phone she held away from Hange was snatched from her hand. Ready to punch whoever had done that, she turned around to see Levi holding the phone in his hands; his eyes wide. The phone fell from his hands and Evelyn barely caught it before it fell on the ground.

"What the hell is that?" Levi asked, his tone demanding and laced with a mixture of anger and, what Evelyn thought to be a bit of fear.

"It's just a picture," Evelyn said as she stood from her crouching position. "You're acting as if I just stole your soul, Chill."

Levi's hands formed trembling fists, "Tell me right now what the hell you're babbling on about. What did you do to me?" A threat evident in his tone.

"Nothing!" Evelyn took a step back, hands up. "The camera just captured your image, I didn't do anything to you, it didn't do anything to you. It just captured the light going into the lens." Hange took the opportunity to take the phone and study the picture on the screen. She accidentally placed her finger on the touchscreen, the image minimized and she could see Evelyn and Levi on the screen in real time. Moving the phone around slowly she let out a small gasp.

"Moblit," Hange said in amazement, "look at this!"

Moblit and Levi both moved to see what Hange discovered. Hange pushed a button on the side of the phone when shifting her grip on it. A clicking sound played over the phone's speaker and Hange nearly dropped the phone in surprise. Hange looked to Evelyn, a silent question in the air, as the other's also looked toward her.

"Ok, I'm tired of this game!" Evelyn yelled. "You're great actors, show me your Facebook, Twitter, whatever and I'll leave a great review or retweet your stuff. But, I need to fucking know where on Earth I am!"

Levi struck with a snake's speed and held Evelyn by fist-fulls of her clothing in a death grip inches from his face. "_**You,**_ are in, _**no,**_ position to make demands scum. We want answers and I want to know why the hell another me was on that thing."

"Scum?" Evelyn growled, "Listen here pipsqueak." She grabbed his uniform, mirroring his actions. "I don't give a fuck who you think you are. Touch me again, and see what happens." The pair stood there with their locked eyes narrowed, each waiting for the other to make the next move. So distracted, they didn't hear the sounds of approaching horses.

A tall, muscular man moved his arms between the pair, signaling them to break apart. "Stop this nonsense at once!" Recognizing Erwin's voice, Levi broke first with a scoff and Evelyn followed suit. "Just what is going on here?" Erwin studied the scene before him, Evelyn and Levi looked ready to pounce on each other. Hange and Moblit stood by the barn entrance staring in wonder at something small in Hange's hands. Levi's squad had run towards the commotion once they heard their Captain yelling. Petra stood beside Levi asking what was wrong.

"Commander," Hange called. "You need to see this."

* * *

**So since I write these things at like 3 in the morning, I tend to reread and fix small mistakes I find.**

**Thanks, for putting up with my horrid proof-reading.**

**Also, for anyone who really wants the romance to kick off, I'm trying to establish Evelyn's place in the world first. This is going to be a serious slow burn with a lot of complications and wrenches thrown in. If you're into that, great! If not, I don't know what to tell ya.**


	5. Realizations

After the fiasco outside the barn, Evelyn found herself franticly and vaguely explaining how cameras work. With her limited knowledge, it was impossible to explain it perfectly. She walked Hange through the process of taking a photo of her to prove it caused no harm. She then took the phone back and played around with different settings in the manual mode to reinforce her explanations. Shock and suspicion shifted into curiosity. More and more questions spilled out of Hange's mouth. Erwin pointedly made comments here and there and Evelyn slowly felt as if any steam coming from Levi had dissipated.

"Remarkable," Erwin said motioning to hold the device and looking for Evelyn to hand it to him. When she did, he asked, "How do you retrieve these 'photos'?"

"Do you mean share them or what?" Evelyn asked confused.

"Once a picture is taken, how do you find again it after taking another one?" Erwin asked pointing the camera to the old farmhouse.

"You just open the gallery app," Evelyn shrugged.

Taking a picture of the house, Erwin noticed the picture shrink to the corner of the screen and then instinctively tapped on it. His eyebrows twitched as the picture covered the screen. Dragging two fingers over the screen thoughtfully, the picture Hange took of Evelyn swiped into view from the side. He repeated this action and saw the picture of Levi petting his horse. Repeating the motion faster, more pictures raced across the screen before Evelyn quickly yanked the phone from his grasp.

"Woah there buddy! I've got some private stuff on there, _**you**_, don't need to see." Evelyn hit the power button and shoved the phone in her back pocket.

Recovering his composure, Erwin looked at Evelyn examining her closely before moving his gaze back toward the car. "I regret I couldn't ride next to this and examine it up close in action. If it weren't for the battalion nearby, I'd ask for a personal demonstration." He placed his hand on the hood of the car and quickly retracted it in shock. "It's quite warm."

Evelyn had shadowed his steps, making sure he wouldn't do anything that would harm the car further. "Well, yeah. That's how cars work, they burn oil and the engine gets hot."

"What's this 'engine'?" Erwin asked running a finger over the VW symbol on the front of the hood.

"You guys keep asking these questions and I'm going to need something strong to drink." Suddenly a light bulb turned on and Evelyn mentally kicked herself. Even the most secluded areas should have some radio stations broadcasting. Wanting to check if there was anything, she suppressed a grin and looked towards Erwin. "I don't have to just drive over long distances you know. I can back out and drive right back inside the barn and you can see how the controls work, so to speak."

Erwin considered this, suspicion coating his features.

Evelyn put her hands up. "Have someone wait outside past where I should stop with a sword ready. You puncture the tires, the black wheels, and I won't be able to get anywhere."

Erwin considered the small wooden fence lining the property. There was a large opening where the soldiers rode in where a gate might have been in the past. "Very well," Erwin said, "Levi have your team wait at the opening in the fence with your blades at the ready." Levi nodded in reply and turned to relay the order to his squad.

Evelyn moved to open the driver's door and Erwin firmly placed a hand on her shoulder. "Please wait until we've prepared."

Once Erwin motioned for her to continue, Evelyn stopped impatiently bobbing her left leg up and down and climbed in. She could have sworn Erwin jumped a little at the sound of the engine turning on. She slowly put the car into reverse, drove out of the barn, and stopped in the middle of the courtyard between the fence and the barn; to where the radio antenna could more easily pick up signals. Shifting the car into neutral and pulling the parking brake, Evelyn began surfing through different radio frequencies.

_Static, nothing but static. Come on, even the most back-water place has to have some broadcaster for emergencies or something. Right?_

Evelyn, engrossed in her task, hadn't noticed the commander and Hange pacing outside of the car and taking note of her actions.

"What are you doing?" Erwin asked leaning down to where his head poked into the car.

Evelyn jumped in her seat and nearly collided her head with his. "Jesus! Don't do that." She shot an annoyed look at him. "I'm checking for signs of civilization. There has to be someone broadcasting something."

"I don't know what that means." Erwin stood from his position and looked toward Levi's squad. "I appreciate the demonstration, could you please return the car to the barn so we may have a more comfortable conversation." Evelyn furrowed her brows. She wanted to keep skipping through different frequencies and had almost finished going through the FM channels. Determined to get as far as she could she didn't respond. Erwin cleared his throat loudly. "Miss Turner?"

_Just a little bit more._

Erwin knocked on the top of the car on the driver's side. Evelyn turned with a look of a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar; his face stern and holding an unspoken warning.

"Sorry, I got a little distracted." A nervous chuckle escaped her throat and Erwin took a cautious step back.

Parking the car in the barn again, soldiers quickly moved to close the barn door until there was only enough room for one person to enter and exit at a time. Erwin and Hange promptly entered the barn and walked towards Evelyn, who had opened her door and placed one foot on the ground with the other resting on the inner door frame. Her body leaning sideways against her seat and her head hung low.

"I just don't get it." Evelyn mumbled shaking her head.

_First I just wake up in a totally different place than the one I went to sleep in. I mean what can even do that without waking me up? Then, these freaks show up and break my window with their weird gear. And to top it off, then came that titan as they keep calling it. Hange never once showed a sign she knew what I was talking about, I mean who sees plastic and immediately demands to know more about it? _

"Everything alright?" Hange asked standing behind the open door, leaning forward between it and the car's frame. Erwin stood at the end of the door staring at her in thought.

"Nothing is working, not even the most basic things. While I'm not surprised that there's no signal out here, I don't understand why GPS isn't working. Even without any internet connection, phones can still get information from satellites." Knowing little of what could block GPS signals beyond underground bunkers or even put that information into terms where the people around her would answer, Evelyn looked toward Hange and Erwin and asked the only thing that came to mind. "There's not some kind of big metal saucers pointed towards the sky around here is there?"

Erwin's left eyebrow rose, "big metal saucers?" Evelyn smacked her forehead lightly and let her hand cover her face.

"I don't know how to put it, I don't really even know what to ask." Opening her eyes she caught a glimpse of Levi walking toward them and his ODM gear. "How about this, what level of technology are you guys at? If I have to role-play, at least tell me the rules of this 'world.'"

"The **_rules_ **of this world are either you kill or get eaten." Levi gritted his teeth and stomped forward. "Every time you act as if this is all some sort of story, you insult the sacrifices of soldiers who gave up their lives, searching for a way to defeat the titans." From Evelyn's seated position, the Captain towered over her, fury in his eyes and fists clenched. "This isn't a joke. Their lives weren't jokes. Stop acting like you know what's going on when you don't have the slightest clue." His cape dramatically twirled behind him as he turned and began to walk away.

"Levi," Erwin said. "Get the men to prepare the farmhouse to act as an overnight base. We might need to stay here. Get a messenger to send word to Mike to set up shifts in order to protect the soldiers in the other encampment from titan attacks."

"Sure, whatever." Levi said without looking back and quickly disappeared from view.

"Hange," Erwin looked to his left. "Please do the same here, we're more vulnerable here than the other encampment. My squad will follow your orders. Meet us in the house afterwards." Hange nodded and walked away with her right thumb and index finger pinching her chin. "Miss Turner," Erwin paused seeing the woman focusing on the ground with a thousand yard stare.

Lost in thought, Evelyn had begun to entertain the notion these people were telling the truth.

_If I had only just kept driving to Ally's house, I wouldn't be in this mess._

* * *

"How many times do I have to tell you, it's Evelyn. I'm not in the military, so stop calling me by my last name!" Evelyn spat at Erwin, crossing her arms and looking out a nearby window. A dining room table and some wooden chairs had been dusted off so the pair could sit facing each other.

"You don't seem to care for the military. Quickly riding away from the soldiers that discovered you, reacting suspiciously to Levi Squad's rescue, and your tone just now…" Erwin let the sentence hang, unfinished, in the air.

Evelyn shifted her eyes towards him. "How would you know how I acted around the grumpy twerp?"

Erwin suppressed a grin. "I asked for a quick debriefing before our little meeting here. But, I believe you didn't answer my question."

"Pfft, what question? You made an observation and went silent. " Evelyn looked Erwin in the eyes. The man raised his left eyebrow quickly in an inquisitive manner. "Fine! I don't like the military." Evelyn took a deep breath, "It's brought me nothing but pain. But, that's not important here. Let's say that I'm buying what you're selling. That you have never encountered modern technology, you have to know something about where we are. So please, enlighten me."

Erwin rested his arms on the table. "As I mentioned when we first met, we are outside the walls that protect humanity. We're deep in titan territory."

"Titan territory? What's that mean?"

"The titan you encountered in the forest, that was one of many. Be glad it was just the one you encountered. There are many outside the walls that attack humans on sight."

"Yeah, see," Evelyn uncrossed her arms and leaned forward. "How am I supposed to believe that titan wasn't some elaborate trick? As you said, I only saw one so far."

"Consider yourself lucky, without military training and equipment, you would easily be devoured." Erwin's eyes narrowed. "We can't risk that at the moment, not before learning more about you; where you came from."

Evelyn shrugged "Fine, I'll take you at face value for now. What do you want to know?"

"Where are you from? You mentioned being German-American, what does that mean?"

"They're countries. My dad was American and my mom was German. I kinda grew up with both cultures."

"What are countries?"

Evelyn's eyebrows furrowed as she examined Erwin's curious expression. "You're not serious are you?" After a moment of silence she continued, "Holy hell, you are. Are we on some kind of secluded island or something?"

* * *

Minutes turned into hours. Hange had joined them in time, asking her own questions every now and then as well. Evelyn found herself explaining the basics of what countries were and briefly discussing different forms of governments. What shocked her most was their discussion on planets and the solar system. They had never heard the word "Earth." Once the conversation moved to technology, day rapidly turned to night. A solider had brought some food for the group some time before the sun had set.

"For someone so distrusting, it's hard to believe everything you're telling us." Erwin said.

"Believe it or don't, it's not like I can prove any of this without an internet connection." Evelyn shrugged.

"This internet you keep talking about," Hange began, "is it really accessible by your phone?"

"Well yeah, but like I said, I don't have any signal out here. If you guys are telling the truth, there may not be anything at all around here."

"We've scouted the surrounding area rather thoroughly, there are no metal towers connected by wires here or anywhere we've been." Erwin explained.

Evelyn fought to suppress a yawn, but couldn't stop herself.

"It's been a long day, I think we could all benefit from some rest. I'd like to reflect on our conversation." Erwin stood and pushed his chair in under the table. "Miss Turner, I'll have someone escort you to the room we prepared for you."

Evelyn had long given up on correcting the man. "Yeah, I'd rather hang up my hammock and sleep outside, thanks."

"We can protect you better inside the house."

"You mean you can keep a closer eye on me when I'm confined in a dusty, old room." Evelyn huffed.

"I assure you, our actions are purely in the interest of keeping you safe." Erwin said before leaving the room.

"You don't have to worry about the room being dusty," Hange said. "With Squad Levi here, I'm sure there's not a speck of dust in any room."

"What? Is shorty's squad full of clean freaks?" Evelyn asked standing from her chair.

Hange grinned slyly as Evelyn heard someone enter the room, "just one."

"Move it, brat" a deep voice said behind Evelyn. Her shoulders slumped and she braced herself to face the blunt man.

"Don't you have something more important to do than act as a bell boy?" Evelyn asked.

"Looks like the commander's taking special precautions." Hange giggled, earning a scoff from Levi. "I'll see you in the morning. I want to read more about the car."

"Follow me before I drag you." Levi said turning around. Too tired to argue further, Evelyn followed him up the stairs to a small room. It was a simply furnished room with a plain bed, nightstand, wardrobe, and some chairs by a small table near the only window.

Levi positioned a chair by the door and sat down as Evelyn examined the bed. Turning her head to look at him, she asked, "You're not seriously going to watch me sleep are you?"

"Tch. Like it or not, the Commander ordered you to be guarded."

"Can't you do that on the other side of the door?" Evelyn asked. Levi replied with a silent glare.

"Fine, whatever. I'm getting some fresh air though." Evelyn said, moving open the nearby window. The moon was nearly full, casting a silver highlights on the landscape. Admiring the stars, Evelyn examined the sky more carefully. Her eyes widened in silent fear and she felt a knot form in her throat.

_The stars, they're wrong. I don't recognize any constellations, and the moon… Those craters look bigger. _

_This isn't __**my**__ night sky, that isn't my moon. But, if that's true, then, then…. _

_Just where am I?_

* * *

**I'm not one for writer's notes, but I'd like to thank you guys for sticking with me on this. I didn't expect many people actually want to read this, but now you're kind of pushing me to continue writing. So, thank you! An extra thank you towards the followers/favs and anyone leaving reviews.**


	6. Moving Forward

Evelyn felt like shit.

The bed was lumpy, the room was drafty, and she couldn't stop the avalanche of questions and theories forming in her mind. From alternate realities, teleportation, and her wanting to run to the barn and make sure her car wasn't suddenly a time machine or something, sleep did not come easy. Levi had left sometime in the night. Evelyn couldn't say when, she only saw the empty chair after pounding on the room's door had woken her.

"Rise and shine!" Hange called, opening the door and entering the room.

Evelyn groaned in response. Horrible bed or not, it was still a bed and she was not prepared to face the day. "Go away," she grunted.

"Not a morning person, huh?" Hange asked gleefully while opening the window. Another grunt came in reply. "Well, we've got a big day ahead. I bet you'd feel better after a nice breakfast." Hange motioned toward the door. "Come on."

Having slept in her clothes, Evelyn grumbled under her breath as she forced her upper torso off the bed. She slipped her boots on, tucking the laces inside rather than tying them. Hange led the way as Evelyn shuffled down the stairs and into the dining room from the previous day. Evelyn collapsed in the closest open chair and glared at the food laid out. Bread and gruel.

_Nice breakfast my ass._

Several soldiers sat at the table. Some looked toward Evelyn in annoyance, others cocked eyebrows. A familiar young woman with ginger hair sat to Evelyn's right.

"Hello," she sheepishly greeted as Evelyn looked toward her, apathetic. "Remember me? I'm Petra, we met yesterday."

Evelyn yawned and nodded her head in greeting. "Yeah I remember, you're with Levi. I'm Evelyn."

"That's a rather informal way to talk about the captain," Petra said defensively, her cheeks turning red.

Reaching for some bread Evelyn said, "Yeah, well, not in the military. Pretty sure I could call him whatever I want." Taking a tentative first bite, Evelyn thought back to the bag of breakfast items in her car. "Nice chat, I have to go."

Exiting the house and letting the farmhouse door fall shut behind her, Evelyn stopped briefly at a deep voice asking, "Where do you think you're going?" Looking back, she found Captain Levi leaning against the house, holding a porcelain cup by its rim to his mouth.

"To get something from the car." Evelyn said over her shoulder.

"No. You're not going near that thing alone." Levi stood from his leaning position.

Evelyn rolled her eyes at him. "Then get someone to tag along, cuz I'm going." Continuing onward, she heard soft footsteps on the dirt behind her.

Two soldiers stood guard at the entrance to the barn. "Let me in." Evelyn demanded.

The soldier to the left of the barn door shook his head and said, "Commander's orders, no one goes in or out."

"Open the door," Levi ordered. "I'll take over from here." The guards looked questioningly at each other once before nodding and slightly opening the barn door.

Remembering that she left the car unlocked, Evelyn searched the backseat for the white plastic bag that held her prize. Levi leaned against a nearby post, sipping from his cup.

Once Evelyn found the bag, she dug through it searching for the second bear claw and another small bottle of orange juice. As she opened the driver's door, Evelyn noticed Levi stiffen. Without saying a word she sat sideways in the seat and twisted the cap off the orange juice. Taking a sniff of the contents, she took a cautious sip. It was warm, but better than gruel.

"What's that?" Levi asked.

Evelyn let out a satisfied sigh after taking a big gulp. "Orange juice."

"What's it in? Doesn't look like glass." Levi took another sip of his tea.

"Plastic, go ask Hange what it is. If you have to stand there, just glare. You're good at that." Evelyn opened the bear claw packaging and used it in an attempt to keep her hands clean while eating.

* * *

Eyes narrowed, Levi watched the woman in front of him intently. In between mouthfuls she would rub her eyes or cover her mouth when she would yawn; in turn causing Levi to fight the urge himself. Although he rarely slept well, staying up watching her toss and turn didn't help. He only left once he was sure she was asleep and wouldn't crawl out the window.

Movement in the corner of his eye drew his attention as Hange and Commander Erwin entered the barn.

"I had a feeling we would find you here." Erwin said walking closer to the car. "Good morning." Evelyn looked toward the approaching pair, nodded her head downward with a grunt, and continued chewing.

"Morning." Levi looked toward Erwin before refocusing on the car and its contents once more.

"Cheer up you two, we have a full day of experimenting to do!" Hange beamed. Evelyn's left eyebrow rose in response.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Evelyn asked after forcing a large mouthful down her throat.

"After our discussion yesterday, Hange came up with some tests we can run. If you're willing to help us that is." Erwin stood at the end of the open driver's door.

"That depends on the tests to be honest. Not really into the idea of being dissected." Evelyn said. Crinkling her breakfast's packaging in her hand into a ball, she turned in her seat. She fumbled with something before turning around again holding what looked like a bar of packed oats.

"There are two things that interest me the most. Obviously one is this car and the other…" Erwin pulled out Evelyn's pistol from a small bag. "This gun, as Levi believes it to be, is far more advanced than what we've seen from our own military. I'd like to see it in action."

"One," Evelyn held her right pointer finger up. "The car only has a little under 2/3rds of a tank of gas left. As you know nothing about gasoline, I highly doubt we'd be able to refill it so it would be stuck motionless forever when it runs out. Two." Her middle finger flicked up. "I'm not a mechanic and cars are pretty closed off as far as seeing the magic happen. I think the most I could do is take you out for a joy ride. And three," Evelyn closed her hand into a fist before raising three rings. "I only have limited ammo, eight bullets to be exact. And I don't trust you enough to hand them over."

Both Hange and Erwin's faces held expressions deep in thought. Considering the woman's words, her usefulness seemed to be pretty low. Levi was sure Hange would find some way to squeeze out as much information as possible and probably even find a way to design something they could use.

"These items can be disassembled can't they?" Erwin asked.

"Hold the fucking phone there pal!" Evelyn jumped out of the car and took a defensive stance. "This is still my car, what gives you the right to even suggest that? Besides that, there's no way you'd get it in working condition again. Not with everything I heard about your technological level."

"Please, clam down. It was a simple suggestion for after your resources have been depleted. While it is your property, it is of great use for not only us, but it could benefit yourself as any discoveries we have would benefit the whole of humanity."

"Look, the more time I spend here the more I believe you. But. I still am not comfortable with you taking apart things to where they won't function anymore. I can show you how the gun works, I disassemble it for cleaning regularly. But the car not only takes special knowledge, but special tools as well. I'll tell you as much as I can about whatever questions you have. The one thing I know is that simple concepts from my world may be gigantic breakthroughs in yours."

"How much more time are you willing to spend playing scientist?" Levi looked toward Erwin. "We're sitting ducks out here."

"I have considered that." Erwin replied. "With the men confused about why we are spending so much time stationary, morale is likely wavering at the moment. Still, we cannot waste this opportunity."

"Considering the men think we're sitting around doing nothing, I suggest we come up with a good lie or getting moving." Levi said.

"About that, how exactly was this kept secret? I'd assume the guys that found me would have spread the message all over by now." Evelyn added.

"The men that found you were isolated, ordered to keep the information confidential, and told to join us here. As far as I can tell their message did not spread far, it's also pretty far-fetched. The other troops may dismiss their claims on that alone. Last I saw, they were having breakfast in the house." Hange said.

"Ah, I was wondering why I was getting the stink eye from some of them." Evelyn said.

"People generally don't like being grunted at as a greeting." Hange said resting her right elbow on her left hand in front of her as her left arm rested against her stomach.

"Back to the matter at hand," Erwin interjected. "What we can study in the walls will be brought back. We won't be able to sneak the car through the gates without the public spreading the news like wildfire. The best we can do is move it to a more defensible outpost with less activity. How far can you move the car before it runs out of this 'gas'?"

Evelyn scratched her head. "Depends on what measuring system you use. But in terms of time, roughly six hours or so at the same speed we used on the way here."

Erwin's expression darkened. "The first outpost after leaving the walls is a half a day's journey from here. I'm not sure if we'd make it in time. It would be the optimal location with an abandoned warehouse nearby. Two squads could easily defend it while the rest of the battalion focuses on a secondary objective."

"Car's get better gas mileage at higher speeds. I could drive ahead if someone guides me and probably have at least a fourth tank of gas left." Evelyn suggested.

"Out of the question." Erwin shook his head. "Not only would you have little to no protection from the titans on the way, we can't take the chance of the car getting stuck in the open."

"I'm pretty sure the car could outrun them." Evelyn sighed and crossed her arms. "But if you're so against the idea, if you get enough horses together along with some good rope, you could get them to move the car without wasting any gas."

Hange's brows furrowed deeper and deeper as the conversation went on. "With that many horses, the soldiers are bound to notice something, it would nearly decimate the back-up supply for stranded troops. If we cannot learn more about the car by observation, it would be wiser to bring it to a safer area. If we need special tools, we would have to bring engineers outside the walls to examine what we'd need. They'd likely want to stay in the walls to begin with; so getting them out will be difficult. The other consideration lies in finding a secluded space with enough room to lay everything out for examination. The warehouse would be our best bet."

"What did I say about disassembling?!" Evelyn asked annoyed.

"I know you're not the greatest fan of the idea, but what other use does the car have if it doesn't work?" Hange asked.

"This is the closest thing I have to a home here and you want to tear it apart." Evelyn's eyes began to water.

Hange looked at the woman with compassion. "We wouldn't tear it apart. We'd be very careful. We want to be able to put it back together again, and even create more. Our main concern is in finding an optimal place to keep it safe."

Evelyn's eyes narrowed as she examined Hange. "Considering you're worried about people dying out here, it sounds like a decent plan to move it. We can discuss this issue later, but I don't promise I'll change my mind."

Erwin nodded his head in agreement. "Hange, look into the idea of having horses pull the car. If we have enough supplies, we'll go with that plan. To keep this somewhat under wraps, every squad here will travel ahead of the main group expect for mine. The troops are already suspicious enough, having their commander disappear may cause more damage. That should provide enough protection and time for the battalion to arrive at the outpost without being detected. We'll send a covered wagon from there to your location to transport what we can into the walls for further examination. Ms. Turner can stay with her belongings and we'll be able to sneak her in as well. We will need a spare cape for her to wear; it will hide your strange clothing." Erwin looked to Evelyn who nodded half-heartedly.

* * *

"We'll give you a ten minute head start. If anything goes wrong, we'll be in signal range. Head out when you see a green flare from behind you." Erwin commanded from horse back. Everyone was saddled up and ready except for Evelyn and Hange; who waited in the car. Well, Evelyn was in the driver's seat while Hange sat with her legs dangling through the open sunroof. Hange had arranged for six horses to pull the car along, attached by a hastily made contraption out of wood and rope. Hange controlled them with voice commands and some make-shift reigns out of rope. It all seemed a bit much, but the horses had to cover a great distance and it worked well enough in a practice run.

Hange's squad waited on the right, Levi's squad split up, covering the front and back of the car, and the soldiers that first came across Evelyn waited on her left.

"Don't you ever clean your boots?" Evelyn asked; her voice distorted as she held her nose closed. "I think I'm going to move to the back."

"No!" Hange bent down, her head casting a shadow over car's interior. "You need to control the car in case the wheels turn the wrong way."

Groaning, Evelyn pushed Hange's legs to the side so they would hang more in the passenger's seat. "Keep your legs there real quick will you?" Kneeling in the driver's seat Evelyn scoured the back seat for her backpack. She turned in her seat and placed her bag in her lap once she found it before saying a quick thank you. As Hange settled herself back to her previous position, Evelyn dug through the bag before taking out a narrow metal can and placing the bag in the passenger's seat. She quickly shook the can up and down causing the can to become cold to the touch.

"What's that?" Hange looked curiously.

"Deodorant." Evelyn said before spraying some on Hange's boots.

"Hey!" Hange called kicking her left foot out. Evelyn flung her head to her left. Her hand shot to the left side of her head in anticipation of pain. With the window shattered, she felt nothing and it took her a second to realize it was no longer there.

"What are you two doing now?" Levi sat on his horse to the left of the car's hood.

"She started it." Hange said examining her left boot with her leg crossed in her lap.

"Oh, how mature." Evelyn pouted looking at the woman's legs.

"You're one to talk, spraying unknown substances on me." Hange said returning to her original position. "Although, it does smell nice."

"At least I keep my shoes from smelling funky. I swear, it's like you're allergic to the notion of personal hygiene." Evelyn glared through the open sunroof.

"Tch," Levi scoffed in a light tone. Evelyn could have sworn he almost chuckled. "Knock it off, I don't have the time or patience to babysit you two."

"What does that mean?" Evelyn spun to face him, incredulous. Before she could continue, a loud boom echoed from the sky behind them.

"That's the signal." Levi said before turning to ride to the front of the group.

"Everyone," Levi yelled, "move out!"

* * *

**Hey everyone, sorry this one took a bit longer to get out. I went on vacation last week and have some finals to get through this week. Like I said, I'm not going to keep to a schedule when writing this as I've learned personal schedules cause me to abandon work rather than focus on it.**

**Thanks for those leaving reviews, my ego loves the extra boosts here and there.**


	7. Failed Plans

It started with sparse droplets.

"Get your legs out of here!" Evelyn shouted up to Hange. "I don't need anything ruined."

"Where am I supposed to go? The front?" Hange replied.

"The hood?! No! It'll probably dent." Evelyn cried in frustration.

"Then you'll have to deal with the rain." Hange yelled over howling winds.

The formation surrounding the car drew in closer as visibility diminished and the rain fell faster.

* * *

"There's a town coming up ahead sir," Petra yelled forward. "I remember those trees near the river."

"With this rain, there'd be no way to spot hiding titans," Gunther called out.

"There's a hill on the left side, we can't see shit but it's better than being cornered." Ouro yelled.

"We'll take the safer route. Eld, fall back and inform Hange of the change in course." Levi called over his shoulder.

"Yessir!"

* * *

"Squad Leader Hange!" Eld called out, riding next to the car. "We're changing direction to avoid a town up ahead. Head to the left and we'll go over a nearby hill."

"Right!" Hange yelled back. "Inform the other groups will you?" With a nod of his head Eld rode off.

As Hange signaled the horses to turn, Evelyn was lightly thrown off balance. Searching for items to cover the pleather upholstery and dashboard in the car, she hadn't fully registered the conversation between the soldiers.

"Ow," Evelyn said rubbing her elbow absent mindedly. She positioned her face in front of Hange's legs and looked up. "What's this about?"

"We had a change of plans, we're going over that hill up there." Hange smiled back.

"Hill?" Evelyn asked confused and looked out the windshield. That sounded a bit of an understatement as she saw they were approaching a large, steep mound of dirt covered in patchy grass. "Hange, wait." Evelyn said as a suspicion quickly grew in her mind.

Levi squad had already ridden over the top and they were close behind, approaching the hill at a rapid pace.

"Hange STOP!" Evelyn cried out desperately.

Hange pulled hard on the patched together reigns and Evelyn reactively hit the brake petal. A loud crack, slightly muted by the growing storm, sounded as the horses and car came to a halt with more room between them than before. The reigns still in her grasp pulled Hange forward, a single foot wedged between her and the open sunroof stopped her from being thrown to the ground, before they were ripped from her hands. The squads on either side of the car came to a halt and looked at the scene unfolding before them in confusion.

"My wagon!" Hange cried out in surprise with her hands on her head. Repositioning herself she called out in concerned frustration, "Why did you yell 'stop'?"

"We'd get caught in the mud and possibly hurt the horses; if they could even pull the car over that thing!" Evelyn replied.

"They were doing just fine until we stopped suddenly!" Hange argued.

"You saw the aftermath of us trying to stop suddenly, if the horses could have pulled against the mud, the wooden frame wouldn't have held out going over the hill." Evelyn retorted. "Trust me, this car isn't equipped for off-roading. It's a wonder it got this far!"

"I'm going to check on the damage." Hange frowned. She flung her legs out of the sun roof and jumped off the car to inspect her broken creation. Evelyn sat back, turned the car's power on briefly to close the sun roof, and let out a sigh before braving the rain herself.

"What's going on here?" a hooded Levi rode up to the pair.

"The wooden frame cracked." Hange replied.

"Squad commander," a member of Hange's squad rode up to her. "Why did you stop so suddenly?"

"**You** stopped? Why?" Levi interrupted looking between Evelyn and Hange.

Swallowing anxiously Evelyn looked toward him and began to explain their situation. About half way through, a scream cut through the air behind her. She saw Levi's expression turn to brief shock before turning sour. Before she could look herself, Levi charged towards her, hoisted her up by her jacket, and threw her unceremoniously on her stomach in front of him before turning to ride toward his squad. With each gallop Evelyn fought to keep stable and breathe until they came to a stop.

"Petra, protect her." Levi commanded as he helped move a stunned and winded Evelyn to sit behind the woman. "Gunther, Eld, Ouro, with me." With that, they rode off, more commands fading away in the distance. Cradling her torso, Evelyn turned her gaze behind her. Visually, she couldn't make out a thing. But, the sounds were unmistakable; metal whirling and loud, deep inhuman grunts and cries.

"Titans," Petra yelled. "Keep your eyes and ears open, we have to find a safe place while the others take care of them. I don't like it, but the town may be our best bet."

Wanting to be out of this situation Evelyn fought the urge to yell at the woman to bring her back to her car, her only safe space in this world. But what good would it do? If it wasn't already caught in the mud, surely driving it in the rain without being able to see very far ahead would cause the same outcome and trap her in the open with no escape.

They rode into the town on the main road. Thunder and the distant sounds of battle could barely be heard over the wind when a hand, larger than the horse, appeared out of an alley to their left. It balled into a fist behind them, catching the breeze, as their horse rode on. A large face with a permanent unnerving smile looked into the road after them. Evelyn froze in terror and felt her grip on Petra stiffen. The titan charged after them. Petra snapped the reigns, egging her horse to go faster as a crack of lightning brightened the sky.

"Do you see the windmill up ahead?" Petra called back.

Confused, Evelyn strained her eyes against the rain. "No."

"Here, grab these," Petra moved the horses reigns to her left. "Keep riding straight ahead, do you understand?"

"What?" Panicking, Evelyn held onto the reigns with one hand and grasped the back of the saddle with the other as Petra swung her left foot towards her right.

"Ride straight forward!" Petra called out before shooting wires from her 3DM gear, pushing herself off the horse, and flying off somewhere.

Thudding behind Evelyn caught her attention. The titan was closing in. She pulled herself forward and, with all the grace of a novice rider, tried urging the horse to run faster while holding on for dear life. A second strike of lightning illuminated the sky. Evelyn could see the windmill, barely. Focusing on not falling off the horse, she tried to ignore the monster behind her.

200 feet.

Mixed sounds of thudding and thunder.

150 feet.

Wordless cries of excitement and fear.

100 feet.

Another lightning strike.

50 feet.

Another face shot out behind a house biting its way forward. The horse reared up in surprise. Evelyn clung to the reigns but felt them slip away. Searing pain spread through her right arm as she crashed to the ground and instinctively curled up. She heard the sounds of metal coiling against metal behind her before an arm grabbed under her right shoulder. She shrieked as her weight was flung through the air before a rough landing knocked the rest of the wind out of her.

"I'm so sorry!" Petra cried back. "Hold on for one more minute. I'll kill the other one and come back for you!"

Tears mixed with rain as Evelyn cradled her right elbow in her lap and rocked softly back and forth; muttering to herself, "this isn't real. This can't be real. I'm drugged, I have to be. Damn it!"

"They're gone, we're safe for now." Petra said softly. "Can I see your arm?" Continuing to rock and stare towards the ground before her, Evelyn shook her head.

"I can't help if I can't see what's wrong." Petra placed a hand on Evelyn's back and rubbed it gently. Evelyn slowly stopped the rocking motion and locked eyes with Petra. Carefully, she lowered her legs and exposed her arm. Petra gently supported Evelyn's arm with her hands. "Where does it hurt?"

"El-bow" Evelyn gasped. As Petra prodded the area, Evelyn bit back a curse and scrunched her face up in pain.

"I'm sorry, I know it hurts. It doesn't feel like anything is broken though." Petra carefully released her grip and moved toward the end of the roof they were on.

"I can't see any signs of the others. Can you move?" Petra asked.

"I don't want to." Evelyn replied.

"You should be safe up here, I can go get help if you'd like. Otherwise they might not know where we ran off to." Petra suggested.

"I don't want to be alone here. Not like this." Evelyn said.

"We need the others to know where to find us." Petra said sympathetically.

"Ok," Evelyn pushed against the ground and with Petra's help, stood up. She stared into the woman's eyes, "but, don't you even think of bailing on me again." Petra nodded before helping Evelyn to the edge of the roof. They scanned their surroundings and Petra kept whistling into the air.

"I can't find my horse. Do you see anything?" Petra asked. The rain made it difficult to hear anything but Evelyn could barely make out the faint sounds of galloping in the distance.

"I don't see it either but I think I hear some." Evelyn pointed in the direction they had entered the town. Shortly after, three hooded soldiers galloped up the road. The pair just barely got their attention before they sped past the house.

"Hold onto me with your good arm and warp your legs just under my gear here, ok?" Petra turned and pointed to a spool on her back. "Don't worry about the blades; they won't cut from inside the sheath." Awkwardly, Evelyn wrapped her good arm around the back of Petra's neck and Petra helped to position her more to Petra's left side. With Evelyn nearly sitting on the woman's left blade sheath, Petra shot her right wire to a taller building nearby.

"Hold on, there will be a bit of an impact." Petra said before jumping off the roof. Evelyn's grip tightened instinctively as her stomach dropped. Petra gripped Evelyn's waist and held her feet out to collide against the stone wall before lowering them slowly to the ground.

"Petra, are you two ok?" Gunther asked approaching the pair.

"I'm fine, Evelyn's arm is injured. My horse ran off and I can't call it. Where's the captain?" Petra helped Evelyn unwrap herself from around Petra's gear.

"He's finishing cleaning up; sent us to come rescue you two from yourselves." Ouro sneered.

"Get her some help, I'll go find my horse." Petra said ignoring the snide remark and motioning to help Evelyn mount up behind Gunther. Evelyn looked at her in a stunned silence but began to take Gunther's outstretched hand once she saw the trust between the two. Once she was stable, Petra disappeared and Gunther began to head back out the town.

* * *

"Did you see me out there Levi?" Hange squealed in delight. "That was so thrilling! Who would have thought six horses tied to a frame would make such a good mobile launching and landing point. I'll have to discuss this with Erwin later."

"It made you an easier target." Levi said washing the blood from his blades. Three horses rode up to them.

"Captain! Petra had to recover her horse but she'll be here shortly with the others." Gunther said to Levi.

"Evelyn! There you are! Wait until I tell you…" Hange began before examining Evelyn's expression closer. " Are you ok? What's wrong?" Hange asked as she witnessed Gunther carefully helping Evelyn off the horse while she held her elbow grimacing in pain. Levi looked up from his blades, sheathed them, dismounted, and walked toward Gunther.

"I'll be fine, it's probably just a sprain. What happens now?" Evelyn asked.

"We lost the lead we had over the main battalion. I doubt we can regain it." Hange said. "Do you think we can get the car to the town; hide it there while we wait for the commander?"

"Let me see." Evelyn said walking towards her vehicle.

"Can you operate it in your state?" Hange asked concerned.

"I'll be slower than usual but I'll be fine." Evelyn replied while examining the exterior of the car; the wheels were sunken into the ground.

"It looks like I'll need some help getting out of this. Can you get a couple strong helpers to push?" Evelyn asked Hange. Hange nodded in reply and left. Getting into the car, Evelyn turned the key and shifted the car in reverse, wincing through the pain. The wheels spun as she played with the clutch and gas petal, but the car wouldn't budge.

"What're those?!" Hange asked ecstatic with four men behind her eyeing the car in apprehension. "Are those the rain wipers?!"

Confused, Evelyn looked forward. The sensors had turned on the windshield wipers and the car's lights illuminated the hill ahead.

"We'll talk about it later," Evelyn called back, "help me get it moving." She turned off the wipers and the lights to try and lessen the effect on the other soldiers.

The men, urged on by Hange, took positions in front of the car and pushed while Evelyn did what she could. In any other context the looks of worry on the men's faces may have been comical. After a couple of failed attempts, they managed to get the car on more solid ground.

"Where do I park?" Evelyn called out.

"Somewhere in the town." Hange replied. "Look for something that can hide it."

"Squad leader." Moblit said. "I saw another barn while riding through town, we can hide it there." Hange nodded toward him before looking back to Evelyn.

"Move it there, I'll follow and we'll wait for the commander." Hange said. "Moblit, lead the way."

* * *

**Hey everyone, sorry for the long period of radio silence. That may happen here and there, but it doesn't mean that I abandoned the story. I just have a lot going on.**

**I also realize how slow paced the story is and want to thank you for sticking with me. They'll reach the walls soon, I promise. Not in the next chapter, but the one after that. I planned on releasing two chapters for the long wait, but, it's taking me a bit longer than I thought to finish the other one so here's your fix in the meantime.**


	8. Reality Check

"Unless you miraculously have an ice pack; please, for my sake," Evelyn growled through gritted teeth, "**STOP POKING AT MY ELBOW!**"

"I have to examine the wound to treat it properly." Hange replied. "Plus, you moving it around so much didn't help."

"Nothing's poking out. I swear it's turning purple. I think I know what it needs; some rest from being prodded." Evelyn tried to turn away but Hange caught her shoulders.

"Wait until we support the area at least. A sling could help reduce strain on the joint." Hange said.

"Squad leader!" Moblit called as he barged into the barn. "Commander Erwin has arrived."

Shortly after Erwin came to a stop in front of Evelyn. "The battalion is circling the area, we can't keep this up for long before suspicion grows. We'll reenter the walls before sun down. The casualty wagon has collected the fallen soldiers from your recent encounter. I'm afraid it is the only wagon we can transport things in without suspicion."

"Wait, I'm supposed to pack my things in amongst your dead?" Evelyn balked. "That is so nasty."

"Would you prefer to bring nothing with you?" Erwin countered.

Evelyn chewed on her lower lip. "Is there at least something I can use to separate them from my things?"

"Of course, we have tarps but there isn't much room. Bring only the essentials with you and pack them quick. We will return in the future and you can take the rest with you then."

"How long will that take?" Evelyn asked.

Erwin thoughtfully pinched his chin softly with his right hand, "difficult to say; it may not be for months. Now please hurry."

* * *

"Wow, the colors are so vibrant." Hange held a purple long sleeve up by the shoulder seams.

"What are you talking about? I only really wear dark colors." Evelyn said before taking the shirt back to stuff in her large knapsack.

"You must be rich in your world, owning purple. You don't have any white pants though, do you?" Hange mused out loud.

"I not rich, I forgot that dyes are pretty amazing to less advanced societies. And no, I don't have any white pants, it's mostly jeans and some dark hiking pants; stuff for camping mainly."

"We'll have to find something for you to blend in." Hange chewed her lip in thought. "We don't generally have spare uniforms on hand."

"Squad leader!" A solider called from outside, "the cart has arrived!"

"Is that everything?" Hange looked at the two bags Evelyn inspected and shoved to one side.

"It's my clothes, my electronics, some food, and; oh!" Evelyn reached for a dark green bundle. "I'll take this guy too for good measure."

"What's that?" Hange asked reaching for it.

Evelyn handed it over "Don't unpack it. It's a camping hammock."

"Ham-mock? What's that?" Hange held the bundle up and turned around in her hands.

"I'll show you when I can get it set up." Evelyn slung the strap of her backpack over the shoulder of her good arm. "Can you grab the knapsack?"

Hange nodded and the pair left the barn. An uncovered rickety wooden cart stood outside with two horses lazily grazing at the grass in front of them. Bodies had been unceremoniously stacked in the cart with one wrapped in a couple of scout capes from head to foot. A cloth tarp lay in a corner of the cart where some space was left clear.

Hange helped to load the backpacks, enthralled at their quality, as Moblit came towards Evelyn with some clothing and boots in his arms. "Commander Erwin mentioned you'd need a uniform. I had to guess your size but I hope it fits."

"I thought you didn't have any extra uniforms in my size. Where did these clothes come from?" Evelyn asked as she examined the various dirt marks on the white pants. "What's this?" A particularly dark stain ran along the back of the waistband. She threw the garment away in horror as bile rose to the back of her throat. "You gave me pants a person died in!"

"We cleaned them the best we could." Moblit said as he picked up the pants and handed them to Hange's outstretched arm.

"We need you to blend in with the others and nothing you have comes close to our uniform." Hange examined the stain herself.

"The cape, jacket, boots and harness have also been cleaned up. There's no blood on them though." Moblit said as he held the items out to a frozen Evelyn.

"Do you want to be the center of attention? It's just clothing, here." Hange looked Evelyn over. "If you tuck your shirt in it won't be against your skin. We'll get you new clothes as soon as we can."

Evelyn composed herself and nodded.

"Moblit, I'll take it from here." With a nod, he handed the clothing to Hange before leaving.

Hange helped Evelyn to a secluded room in the barn before looking at Evelyn's arm, "Do you need help?"

"I'll be fine." Evelyn said stubbornly as she took off the sling and winced through taking off her jacket and hoodie.

"The pants?" Evelyn asked as Hange looked at her, ready to help if needed.

Grimacing as she pulled the pants on, carefully trying to keep the back from touching her skin and tucked her shirt in as far as possible before fastening the front closed. Evelyn slipped into the boots next before staring at the spider's web of belts on a nearby table before looking back at Hange.

Embarrassed, Evelyn said, "Hange, I need some help."

* * *

Nothing fit right. The pants were a bit tight around the waist, but Evelyn refused to remove her shirt from the waistline. The jacket was baggy and the boots were a size too big. The cape helped to hide the disorder while the straps from the 3DM gear enforced a feeling of being trapped in the uniform.

Moblit held the reins as the cart found its position in the battalion. Evelyn's jaw nearly dropped as she looked at the sheer number of soldiers. It was one thing to expect a large number of people and quite another to see them working as a singular unit. Moblit stayed quiet for the most part besides answering question Evelyn posed regarding things like the color of the flares she'd see shot occasionally. Unsure what to discuss or if Moblit even wanted to talk, Evelyn kept small talk to a minimum.

After what felt like an eternity of being bounced around, a large structure could be seen in the distance.

"We're almost there" Moblit sighed with relief.

"Are those the walls?" Evelyn asked. "They must be huge if we can see them from here."

"You have no idea. They tower even over the titans." Moblit responded.

With each gallop, the truth of Moblit's statement became clearer. It would take a couple of hours for the sun to set but the abandoned town at the foot of the walls was covered by the shadow of the structure.

"How was it made?" Evelyn wondered out loud trying to remember information about the Great Wall of China and drawing comparisons where she could.

Moblit shrugged "They were always there as far as we know."

Evelyn looked back at Moblit in confusion. "Walls don't just magically appear or build themselves." Again, Molbit shrugged and shook his head.

_You could probably see this sucker way better from space. Wait, something's off._

Evelyn's thoughts were interrupted as the battalion began to enter the walls through a ruined gate. Her eyes were trained on the wall as they passed through into a small town.

_How did they manage to make it so smooth? There's no brick pattern running up the wall. Are they more advanced than I thought?_

They rode past buildings packed tightly together with miscellaneous items strewn across the ground between debris.

"What happened here?" Evelyn asked unable to tear her eyes away from a collapsed house.

"The titans." Moblit said.

"I thought the walls were supposed to keep them out."

"This was caused by an abnormal that was larger than the wall. Wall Maria fell only recently, that leaves only Wall Rose and Wall Sina. The Survey corps has been trying to find out more information about where these special titans came from but we've come up short."

Evelyn watched as soldiers flew around them using the ODM gear. Before she could ask where they were headed, she saw a bored looking titan walk out from behind a house. She felt fear swell up in her chest but it was replaced with curiosity.

She turned to Moblit."Why are the others only targeting the back of the neck? Wouldn't it be more helpful to cripple it?"

"That's the only spot that kills them. Squad leader Hange has been studying other ideas but the titans heal too quickly to leave any form of lasting damage behind."

The battalion had arrived at another gate as the red glow of sunset streaked through the sky.

Lost in thought, Evelyn didn't notice the people staring at her as the cart went through a crowded street. After looking around in confusion and fear of failing Erwin already, she noticed the people were focused on the casualties behind her. Disgust, anger, fear, the faces she saw varied but always carried an expression of disappointment. She could barely make out bits of different conversations.

"How many lives were wasted this time?"

"Do you think they achieved anything this time?"

"What a shame."

"Look at those kooks, no way anyone who leaves the walls is sane."

"Our son, I can't see him!"

* * *

"Come on, the commander called a meeting and wants us there." Hange said stretching her arms over her head and standing on her toes to stretch her calves. "The sooner we get it over with, the sooner we can eat." She flashed a grin. "I'm starving; I could eat an entire cow."

"Help me down?" Evelyn asked monotonously. Riding on the casualty wagon, even if it was on the front seat had forced the reality of her situation in sink in. The result of failure in this world lay behind her. Out of sight out of mind, but the smell, the smell had seeped into her soul. Everything ached from the bumpy ride but the thought of food was a pleasant distraction.

As Evelyn entered the meeting room, she found herself drawn toward leaning against a wall in a darkened corner. Erwin sat at a desk looking over some papers as more people entered the room and began to form a semi-circle in front of the desk. Hange motioned for Evelyn to join, but was met with a sideways shake of a head.

"That's everyone, commander." A solider said as two more men entered the room.

Erwin stood, sized up the room, and positioned his arms behind his back. "As you all have gathered, the world is more complicated than we expected. The discovery of our new guest has surely caused a bit of an uproar, but I must ask for this information not to be spread. It is imperative that we learn what we can without the danger of the public reacting poorly to the unknown; for our guest's safety and our own."

Heads began to turn and eyes scrutinized the young woman standing in the corner. Evelyn forced herself to concentrate on Erwin.

"The scouts have always faced disapproval upon reentering the walls. We do not need more reasons for the people to turn against us. I cannot understate the importance of this matter. Anyone found to be openly discussing the topic will answer directly to me. You're dismissed."

Evelyn looked at the floor in concentration or maybe it was shame.

_What kind of mess have I found myself in? All this fuss over a nobody._

Evelyn looked up as a fist lightly bumped her shoulder.

"Come on," Hange said, "food time, I'm starving."

"Miss Turner, may I have a word? In private?" Erwin asked behind the pair. Confused and curious, Evelyn turned to face the man who positioned himself in front of the desk and leaned against it.

"I'll see you in the mess hall." Hange respectfully saluted Erwin before departing.

"I'd like to emphasize the need for you to blend into our society in the walls. Although you will be under the survey corps protection, we can only do our jobs if your presence isn't well known." Erwin began as the door closed.

Evelyn raised an eyebrow, "I thought you wanted me to work with Hange."

"Yes, however, only discuss ideas and inventions that are outside of our society's understanding in private. People who ask too many questions or those with ideas of wanting to flee the walls through unconventional means have a way of disappearing." Erwin's grim expression began to lighten. "Keep your head down and everything will work out fine. I hope you have a pleasant evening."

Evelyn narrowed her eyes slightly and nodded her head down, "You as well." Closing the door behind her, she went to find some dinner.

* * *

After what felt like hours of tossing and turning on the stiff cot, Evelyn snuck out of her temporary room to find some fresh air. Her journey led her to a large balcony overlooking the country-side. The waning moon drew her attention as she sat on the crumbling stone battlements, her legs dangling off the side.

Her mind wandered to dinner and cravings of junk food far outside her reach. Although she had eaten her fill, it did nothing for her slight headache and shaky hands.

Evelyn looked over her shoulder at the sound of movement behind her. "Oh, it's you."

"Got a problem with that?" Levi asked.

"Not really," Evelyn looked forward and wiped a tear from her eye. "I guess I was hoping for someone else." An uncomfortable silence filled the air between the pair.

"Ya know," Evelyn began to speak softly, "no matter how much I tell myself this isn't real, the pain keeps reminding me otherwise." Evelyn looked vacantly at the sling holding her elbow. "I realize how naive I must sound. You and the people you care about have dealt with this shit for your entire lives. I can't fathom it. And as selfish as it is, I don't know how to deal with it now that I'm here."

Tears began to stream down Evelyn's cheeks, warm against the night breeze. "I've lost everything and everyone I care about," Evelyn's breath hitched in her throat, "again."

A simple white handkerchief came into view as a hand held it in front of her chest. Evelyn's eyes followed the hand up to see Levi sitting beside her looking at the night sky.

"Thank you." Evelyn sniffled as she took the cloth and began to clean her face. "What am I even doing here other than flailing about and injuring myself like a toddler?" Evelyn chuckled and hiccuped, struggling to regain a normal breathing pattern.

"I don't know. You're apparently some sort of brainiac outside of physical ability. Work with Hange, help humanity. Way I see it, you don't have much of a choice." Levi looked toward her from the corner of his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Evelyn asked, not hiding the offense she felt.

Levi stood up and brushed off his pants. "You're either useful to us or dead weight. Think about it; no home, no friends or family, no income. You can either help us, or you can be left out in the cold."

"You're not great at pep talks, are you?" Evelyn asked staring into the night, her throat suddenly dry.

"Don't spend the night out here, you'll get sick." Footsteps echoed in the night as Levi began to walk away.

"Wait! Your handkerchief?" Evelyn looked over her shoulder.

Levi stopped but kept his back to her. "It better be clean when I get it back."

* * *

_Yeah, I know I disappeared for a while but let's be honest it's not like I'm getting paid for this. Still, in order to motivate myself I thought about writing little enclosed stories from time to time that may or may not fit into the main story depending on how it develops. For anyone interested in these, I'll put a link below to check the first one out. These will not be in any order and may jump around timeline wise._

_Link: /_s/13568689/1/Exploring-Space-and-Time


	9. Out From the Cold

_~"Gooooooood Morning!"~_

A single groggy eye opened to search for the source of the soft and melodic sound that disturbed Evelyn's sleep; two darkened square glass lens resting on a nose filling its view.

Shrieking and retreating on instinct, Evelyn cried out in pain and found herself on the floor when her senses awoke. "Damn it, that hurt."

"Sorry," Hange moved to help Evelyn to her feet.

"In what world would you think it is appropriate to wake someone like that!" Evelyn complained while rubbing her lower back.

"You didn't respond to any of my other attempts." Hange said. "Wait, what are you doing?"

Cuddling into the warm embrace of the wool blanket on her cot, Evelyn shut her eyes. "It's too early, come back later," she mumbled.

"If you don't get up, you'll miss breakfast." Hange pointed out.

"Fine," Evelyn said sitting up, a low ache in her stomach suddenly growing at the mention of food.

"I brought one of my spare uniforms; it should fit you better than the mishmash from yesterday. We'll stop by the tailor later for your own set." Hange said and pointed to a nearby table where a pair of pants and a jacket were carelessly placed.

Swinging her legs off the cot to go inspect the new clothing, a chill spread across Evelyn's bare legs. A panicked thought raced through her mind as she turned her gaze toward Hange, whose attention was drawn toward something on the ground. Stubbornly pulling the pants on, Evelyn saw as Hange took her hoodie into her hands and examined the zipper.

"So are we starting the habit of sharing clothes already?" Evelyn asked as Hange felt the black teddy lining of the hoodie.

"Hands-on is the best way to learn." Hange said without looking up. "It's so soft."

"That's why I bought it." Evelyn said while snaking her left arm into the jacket with some difficulty. "You mind?" Evelyn shook the jacket up and down with her hand engulfed in the fabric where her elbow should have been. "The zipping can be done later."

"Zipping?" Hange moved to help.

"Opening and closing the front basically." Evelyn explained with the jacket now hanging limply across her back. She positioned her left hand behind her right shoulder. "Hand me the shoulder part will you?"

She instinctively hung the jacket loosely over her right shoulder, her right hand peeking out from under it, once she felt the fabric in her hand.

"Food?" Evelyn asked turning to face a critical Hange.

Her eyes narrowed, she pointed at Evelyn's face "Can you remove the metal spikes over your eye?"

A look of confusion turned to recognition. "Oh, you mean my piercing? I suppose. If I really need to."

"Does it serve a purpose?" Hange asked fully seeing it for the first time.

"Beyond teen rebellion, it's just to look cool. I guess." Evelyn struggled to twist an end off with only her non-dominant hand. She let out a frustrated growl and sat on the cot. Leaning forward to move her right elbow as little as possible, she managed to remove the jewelry before placing it carefully on the nearby pillow.

"Now food?" Evelyn asked looking up at Hange. A single nod of approval brought her quickly to her feet.

* * *

"Seriously, you woke me for this? Where's the kitchen? I can deal with bad food on the road, but this is seriously what gets served at home base too? Have you people never discovered spices? Tell me you at least have salt." Evelyn cried in frustration.

"Salt is too expensive to use a lot of. It would cost a small fortune to use it every day. And you're not going to the kitchen. Erwin wants to see you after breakfast so eat up."

Grumbling under her breath Evelyn picked through the broth and nibbled on the bread with her head resting on her hand.

* * *

"No! I won't, I _**can't**_ join the military. I've seen enough to know it's just the people in powers' play thing. They send others to die to in their petty, dick-waving wars and to make more money while keeping their children out of it. I won't be a part of that." Small drops of saliva were spat into the air as Evelyn raged.

Sitting behind his desk, Erwin considered the woman sitting in front of him. "Humanity's soldiers play a vital role in protecting humanity. Without these brave soldiers, humanity would never leave the walls. It would never learn about the world outside. _You_ would not have been saved."

"Don't play the personal card with me. My father died _'for his country_._'" _Evelyn's index and ring fingers retracted and extended together automatically. _"_I've heard personal justifications all my life, they don't affect me anymore."

"Then let me explain it a different way. The citizens in the walls are all of what remains of humanity; the walls are the only protection from being completely annihilated. The war we fight is not for the nobility, it is for the whole of humanity. Of course, if you insist on passing up my offer, we cannot protect you. Custody would be handed over to the military police. You may be interrogated, and likely thrown in prison or executed."

The tension in her jaw and on her teeth released as Evelyn relaxed her facial muscles. "Why exactly haven't you done that?" Evelyn asked coolly. "Not that I'm complaining, but I'd assume you would be under some code or duty to hand me over to your superiors."

"My duty is to humanity."

Evelyn studied Erwin face for a moment. "So," Evelyn leaned forward, resting her left forearm on her thigh. "Let me get this straight. Either I go along with this plan or you throw me to the wolves?"

Erwin considered the expression for a moment.

"Precisely."

Evelyn leaned back, her shoulders slumping. "I'm not a fan of this. I want that on record."

"Consider it noted. Now, there are some preparations for this plan that need to be taken care of. Once I have more information, I'll send for you."

With the conversation coming to a close, Evelyn's focus began to shift to the dull and constant ache that had taken root in her head. Wanting to massage her temples, her right and left arms reached upward before an involuntary wince of pain escaped and she let her right arm fall into the hold of the sling around her neck.

Erwin examined the pale woman in front of him, a trembling hand massaging her forehead with the other hanging limply from a dirty cloth sling. "Hange, bring Turner to the infirmary."

"Yessir!" Hange nodded from the back of the room with her own concern showing in her eyes.

"What? Why? I'm fine!" Evelyn protested.

"That's an order! Soldier." Eriwn commanded with a disguised smirk behind a stern look which was met in return with a simple glare.

* * *

"Did you wash your hands?" Evelyn asked as a doctor entered the room.

"Evelyn!" Hange cried in disapproval.

"What? He's not using gloves; I want to know his hands are clean."

"I just washed them" the doctor standing before her smiled warmly. "Now how can I help today?"

"Well since I'm here, can you check on my arm?" Evelyn asked while moving the sling's knot over her head. The gentle touch of the doctor did little to persuade the nerves in her swollen elbow from staying silent.

"Can you extend your arm?" the doctor asked and moved to the side. Evelyn bit back a forming yelp as she tried to reach her arm out. "That's enough," the doctor lightly pushed her arm back to her chest. "It's likely a simple sprain; I cannot find evidence of any broken bones. Rest it for a few days and begin to move it regularly afterwards to keep it from becoming stiff in the future."

The doctor prepared a new sling from clean cloth and stepped back. "Anything else?"

"No." Evelyn said beginning to push herself up. A hand on her shoulder forced her back down.

"She's been holding her head in pain off and on all morning." Hange spoke from Evelyn's side.

"It's just a headache." Evelyn protested.

"Has this been a reoccurring symptom or is it a recent development?" The doctor asked.

Evelyn sighed. "It started last night; it's gotten worse since then. I'm sure it'll go away in time."

"Has anything changed in your life recently? Have you eaten or had anything to drink recently?"

Evelyn bit her lip to stifle a sarcastic laugh. "Just what passes as food in the mess hall." Her voice shook with the effort of keeping it as calm and monotone as possible in the moment.

"You haven't eaten much since you arrived." Hange interrupted. "You barely ate yesterday and this morning."

"It seems you should eat more." The doctor explained. "In the meantime, I can recommend some sweet-smelling herbs like lavender to draw out the vapors that bring aches to the head. A sweetened water bath may be advisable." Evelyn tilted her head to the side, purposefully and repeatedly blinking in confusion. "If that doesn't work, we can try trepanning."

"Pray tell!" Evelyn clapped her hands together in a ball in front of her, her anxious suspicious distracting her from her pain. "What's trepanning?"

"It is a surgical procedure where pressure on the brain is relieved through creating an opening in the skull." The doctor explained calmly.

"Surgical," Evelyn said while nodding her head, an awkward smile spreading across her face. "Right.… Hange! I think it's time to leave. I'm feeling a LOT better Doc. Thanks."

"Would you like to take some of our supply of lavender or roses or willow tea?"

"Yeah, I'm good! Thanks. Have a great day doc."

As Hange and Evelyn left the building, Evelyn stopped her companion. "I'm going to die here. I don't know how or why, but I think I'm going to actually die here."

"Don't talk like that. You said it yourself, it's just a headache. You just need to eat more. If that doesn't help, I'm sure once we find the problem causing it you will be back to normal."

"Nothing is normal!" Evelyn yelled, drawing the attention of people nearby.

"Shh! You are drawing too much attention." Hange placed her hand on Evelyn's back and pushed lightly before beginning to walk forward with Evelyn following automatically. "I understand _your_ normal is different from ours. There has to be some form of middle ground between the two for you to be comfortable. That's why I'm here; to find out more about what knowledge you have and make use of it."

"What even makes you think I'm trustworthy? For all you know I could be making everything up as I go along."

"Have you lied to us yet?"

Raising her left eyebrow, Evelyn replied "No."

"There! See. That's enough for me."

"Seriously?"

"Well I'm here to test what you say against what we know and find ways to verify any new concepts that we may learn."

"So, you're my fact checker?"

"I'm your boss," Hange said while opening the door to her lab. "And it's time to see if my trust is misplaced." Entering the room, she motioned Evelyn to a table where her bags were placed.

"So that's where those went!" Evelyn blurted out. "Felt like an idiot this morning when I realized I forgot about them."

"Why don't we start with a simple topic?" Hange asked with hungry eyes. "The clothing you wore had interesting properties to them. The hooded sweater that split in two and..., what was it? 'clipped up?'" Hange pinched her chin in thought.

"My hoodie?" Evelyn asked. Hange nodded in response. "Oh, you're talking about the zipper; it's called zipping, not clipping. I'd show you but I left it in my room this morning. My pants have them too though."

"Give them to me!" Hange gasped in excitement.

"Chill." Evelyn moved her left arm in front of her down from her chest to her thigh, her palm facing the ground through the motion. "Can you put the big bag on the ground for me?"

Once the knapsack leaned against the table, Evelyn began to release the straps holding it closed. Handfuls of folded clothing began to cover the table in a messy pile. Jeans, hiking pants, leggings, tank tops, T-shirts, and long-sleeved shirts, along with various other garments, captivated Hange.

"Is it normal to have this much clothing on the go?" Hange asked looking over Evelyn's shoulder and examining the different patterns and colors.

"Well, it's enough to go camping for a week and spend some time at a friend's house." Evelyn shrugged.

"A week!" Hange blurted out, shocked. "That's enough clothes for a year, maybe a lifetime."

Evelyn laughed. "This is like 1/5th of my wardrobe."

Hange's eyes grew wide. "Alright. _**Now**_ I think you are lying."

"Well, I tend to over pack. Besides, in my world there's a bunch of clothing for different occasions," said Evelyn struggling to contain her laughter.

"Of course we have that too, but this is excessive." Hange said while picking through the piles.

"Well that's true, but we have a lot more things going on in my world. Like this." Evelyn grabbed a black bikini top. "This is for swimming. The fabric is one that dries very quickly."

Hange took the top in her hands and felt the synthetic fabric before placing it back on the table.

"What's this?" Hange asked seeing some thin black fabric poking out of the knapsack. A lacy garment unfolded delicately as Hange found the shoulder straps. Evelyn turned around as Hange held it up to her chest. "Well, I certainly wasn't expecting to learn anything about this type of occasion. Is this also for camping?" Hange teased with a raised eyebrow and proud smirk.

Sighing, Evelyn closed her eyes while tilting her head down and pinching the bridge of her nose. "No, now give it back." Evelyn reached out to grasp the garment but Hange swung to the side, evading her as the door to the lab swung open.

Loud footsteps drew the pair's attention. "Hey four-eyes, Erwins needs…" Taking in the scene before him, Levi swiftly turned on his heels mid-step and began to leave. "Nevermind."

As the door closed behind him, Evelyn and Hange met each other's gaze and burst into laughter.

* * *

_**Just a quick note, I'm trying to keep this story realistic and grounded in the idea that the Attack on Titan universe (at least those in the walls) is somewhere in the medieval tech tree. They may have guns and cannons, but medical advances may not be the greatest. The doctors in the medieval period were well versed in physical injuries but the concept of chemical pain (as seen with the headache) was not as well understood. They had a mess of different treatments for pain but what caused the pain wasn't as well understood. **_

_**Also to those that leave comments/reviews, seriously, thanks. And special shout out to Thomas Drovin, you have some serious dedication and I'm honored.**_


	10. Plan in Motion

"There's some much you can do with a potato."

Evelyn examined the boiled potato stuck onto the fork in front of her and sighed. "Chips, fries, Bratkartoffeln with a bit of bacon, wedges, you could even mash it." She placed the potato back onto the plate in front of her. "And all you people do is bake it. Dead horse or not, I wish there was salt."

Evelyn looked across the table at Hange, both women having little room on the table for their meals as Hange's lab wasn't the most organized room in the Scout's headquarters.

"With all the different types of meals you've told me about, maybe we can convince the kitchen staff to let you cook something." Hange shrugged.

"Yes, please." Evelyn picked up her bread and began to eat. "At least the bread's good, I always sucked at baking it."

"I asked for the soup to have some extra herbs added." Hange motioned to the bowl in front of Evelyn. "Do you bake often?"

Evelyn shrugged. "Only things like cookies and some cakes."

Hange placed her spoon on the table before resting her chin on intertwined fingers. "I just realized; I've learned a lot about your world but not much about you."

Evelyn shrugged while swallowing her food. "Well what would you want to know?"

"Everything. Where do you come from, what did you do? Where were you going? Are you rich or poor? Why did you put metal in your face?"

"That's a lot of questions. I told you about the countries I lived in. What I did is a conversation in and of itself. I was planning on visiting friends. I'd say I'm well off but not poor and because I could and it pissed my Grandma off."

"A conversation on its own." Hange mused. "Is it really that complicated?"

"Honestly, not really. What it boils down to is that I studied Psychology and got my Bachelor's right before I ended up here."

"What do those terms mean? Psychology, and you just got single men before you left?"

Evelyn laughed. "No, no, no. A Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. Psychology is the study of the mind and human behavior and the Bachelor's is the first degree of continued education after high school."

"Why would a school be high?"

Evelyn smile widened. "That's just a name. Depending on where you are it goes elementary, middle, and then high school. It's just to separate the different age groups and difficulty of the courses."

"And this degree is above that?"

"Yeah"

"You must have a lot to learn if you just finished your schooling."

"Well," Evelyn scratched the back of her head and looked away. "I'm at the age where most people have the degree above the Bachelor's, I just had a bit of a set back and started late."

Both women fell silent for a moment before Hange spoke up. "Something has been bothering me, you mentioned camping earlier. Most of the clothing I saw seemed, not to be suited for that."

Evelyn felt her body relax. "Well, 'camping' is just what we called an excuse to get drunk, sit around bonfires, and hike every now and then. After that, the girls wanted to have a sleepover like we were still in school for the fun of it."

"Sleepover..." Hange considered the word while looking absent-mindedly at the ceiling. "What would you do at one?"

"I don't know," Evelyn shrugged. "Tease each other about guys, watch movies, and just hang out and catch up on each other's lives. Probably the same as what kids do here."

"You would gather information on each other." Hange mused.

"Well, you could phrase it that way if you want." Evelyn's body shook from a sudden chill running through it. "Man, I haven't felt this bad since I quit drinking soda regularly."

Evelyn sat straight back in her seat; her eyes staring, unfocused, into the space ahead of her. "Oh no. I think I know what this is." Evelyn looked at Hange and slumped her shoulders, her defeated demeanor meeting Hange's elation. "I think it's sugar withdrawal."

Hange's face scrunched in confusion. "Withdrawal?"

"It means my body relied on sugar and now that it's getting none of it, it's throwing a hissy fit. Or at least I hope it's that cuz otherwise I got infected with..." Evelyn's eyes shot open in surprise. "Oh no. Hange, has anyone that's come in contact with me fallen ill?" Evelyn reached toward Hange instinctively before pulling her arm back and forming her hands into fists out of frustration.

Hange raised an eyebrow. "No. At least not that I've heard of. Why are you so concerned?"

"Ugh, I'm so _**stupid!**_" Evelyn smashed her left palm against her forehead over and over.

Hange grabbed Evelyn's wrist and held it away from her face. "Stop that! What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?!" Evelyn cried. "I may have just killed your entire population by being here!"

Hange released her grasp on the woman's wrist; her eyes narrowed as she analyzed what was said.

"I need a shower, like yesterday, and everyone that's been near me does too. And I need to be quarantined." Evelyn rambled.

"You're talking nonsense." Hange replied. "How can your presence kill an entire population?"

"Not me! Viruses, bacteria, God knows what I have crawling on me." Evelyn stood up and marched to the corner of the room.

"What are you talking about?" Hange moved to follow.

"No!" Evelyn's cry halted Hange's movement. "Stay back, I don't want to risk getting you sick any more than I already have."

"Evelyn, you're being hysterical." Hange sighed. "Although we can visit the doctor again if you..."

"No, I need to be put in a room for, like, two weeks. And you need to keep an eye on the people I met. Ideally they should be separated from anyone..." Evelyn paced in the corner.

"Evelyn." Hange stood. "I need you to explain what's going on."

Evelyn took a deep breath. "People in my world carry different diseases from those present in this one. Anything that I'm immune to can be fatal for you because your body has never come in contact with it, it has no defenses prepared. But if we give the disease time to show itself or die, there should be no harm. Of course, the inverse is true as well, any disease that's common here could floor me."

"You're saying you have a disease?" Hange asked in contemplation.

"No. Maybe. I don't know!" Evelyn's left hand buried itself in her hair. "I didn't feel sick until last night really, and the symptoms can be explained away by the lack of sugar."

"Going back to that," Hange said. "You said you're reliant on it. It must not be a luxury where you're from."

Evelyn laughed dryly. "It's taken for granted. It's in everything from bread to sweets to even meat. Same thing with salt. Only lack of salt just means things aren't as tasty." Evelyn kicked the wall in anger. Her body froze with her boot against the wall before letting out a low whimper.

"Stop hurting yourself!" Hange stepped forward.

"Stay away damnit! Do you want to die?" Evelyn glared. "Look, we'll talk germ theory later if you want. But, right now, you need to check on your people."

Hange sighed and moved toward the door. Poking her head into the hallway, she called "Becker! Could you tell Moblit I have a task for him?"

* * *

"Hange, I believe I requested for _both_ you and our new recruit to join us." Erwin said with a stern gaze, standing in front of his desk with his arms folded.

Hange shrugged. "You did, although, getting her here willingly would be an issue. She's barricaded herself in her temporary quarters. She's terrified that she has 'condemned us to death.'"

Erwin rose an eyebrow questioningly.

Hange continued. "She seems to believe she may spread a disease through our population or that she herself will be infected by one. Before she chased me out of her quarters, she had begun to wipe every surface in the room with an alcohol-soaked rag."

"Does she have a disease?" Erwin asked in surprised concern.

"She's feeling unwell but nothing suggests it's from a disease, at least that I can tell. It's not outside the realm of possibility. She said if we wanted to discuss this with her, we'd need to wear something to cover the nose and mouth and to keep at a safe distance."

"She is quite strange, isn't she?" Erwin questioned in disguised annoyance.

Hange nodded. "Very. However, she is rather informative."

"Perhaps we should discuss whether or not this endeavor is worth the effort." Erwin moved behind his desk and sat in his chair. Motioning Hange to sit in front of the desk, he placed his elbows on the desk and entwined his hands together.

"A certain amount of apprehension is to be expected." Hange took a seat. "She came from outside the walls from somewhere that is obviously more advanced than we are."

"I will not deny that. However, her antics are rather tiresome. From what you've learned so far, does she bring any value to the table?"

"Yes. Although she cannot explain the more complex subjects of her world and how to reconstruct the items she has on her person, I have learned of different devices that serve specific functions that we have not encountered before that could, theoretically, be recreated. She also seems to have a wide knowledge of cooking different foods which may help with working around the food shortages. She claims to have studied the brain and human behavior and that she could further our understanding of the human body which in turn may prove useful to my research."

"You would recommend keeping her in your squad I presume."

"It would be helpful." Hange crossed her arms. "There would be no questions as to why I would spend a lot of time with her. Although, how she came to this position is something we'd have to explain."

"Let me take care of that aspect. For now, if any soldiers ask, she's transferred from the Garrison to the Scouts. It's a risky cover so try and avoid any discussions. She also cannot begin to speak about where she came from, which makes questions of her background difficult."

"I have thought of that." Hange leaned forward. "We could say she suffered amnesia after an accident. It might work in tandem with the Garrison cover story with the right details. She would still need a convincing cover story for joining the Scouts. She would also need to at least control ODM gear."

"I had planned to move her with a select group to the old scout headquarters. She could train there without suspicion or prying eyes until she can play her role." Erwin sat back in his chair. "Perhaps we can use her current plight to our advantage."

* * *

_Man, my breath reeks!_

The crude cloth rag tied around Evelyn's head irritated the top of her ears as the smell of alcohol permeated the room. A knock at the door drew her attention away from the thoughts of what to do for weeks in isolation.

"Evelyn." Hange called lightly. "Can I come in?"

"I'd rather we talk through the doorway." Evelyn opened the door and took a step back, but still blocked the entrance.

A piece of cloth hung limply around Hange's neck.

"It would be better to talk in private."

Evelyn sighed and moved further into the room. "Stay by the door please. And mask up." She flicked her index finger in an upwards motion.

Hange followed suit while pulling the mask over her nose and closing the door behind her.

"Where's Erwin?" Evelyn said while subconsciously trying to cross her arms, she settled for resting her left hand on the sling supporting the other one.

"He sent me to brief you. We have a plan to keep everyone out of harm's way." Hange explained. "There's an old abandoned castle that used to be our old headquarters. There we can teach you a bit about our world and you could practice using our gear so you can blend in better."

"And what about the whole quarantine thing?" Evelyn's fingers fidgeted nervously with a loose strand on the sling.

"Well, with it being an abandoned castle, we thought it would be the best place for that. You'd have access to a small library of history books that we left behind and we can discuss things from a distance. As far as the cooking goes, you mentioned wanting to get your hands dirty." Hange shrugged.

Evelyn nodded. "Have you separated the people that came in contact with me from the rest of the population?"

"For the most part, they tend to stick to their own groups. However, most will come with us to the castle. Petra Rall, the woman that you rode with on horseback, and I will oversee most of your training."

"Just how's that going to work out with this thing?" Evelyn lifted her right arm slightly.

"You're supposed to move it more in a couple of days. We'll go easy on you, in the beginning at least. The ODM gear isn't particularly demanding on the upper body until the blades come into the equation and we have yet to see if you can use the gear at all."

"I've been to a couple of tree climbing obstacle courses, I'm familiar with harnesses if that helps. Seems to be the same principle as these straps."

Hange's eyes lit up. "Climbing obstacle courses?"

Evelyn shrugged "I don't know what they're called. It's really just an obstacle course with different climbing challenges suspended in a forest with a bunch of wires. The zip lines were always the best part."

"What are ziplines?" Hange's smile had reached her eyes, making it easy to see even with the face covering.

Evelyn swore she would never get used to the feeling of having to explain what felt to be the most obvious of ideas. "A wire where you, well, zip down on. One end is high in a tree or something and the other goes to the ground. You put something on the wire to hold on to, generally it's a rope with a special metal wheel attached to a harness that goes around the body."

"That sounds fun." Hange said with her head tilted to the side and eyes looking upwards in thought. "Anyway, the plan is to leave early in the morning tomorrow. You're not used to riding horses, are you?"

"Gee, how'd you guess?" Evelyn rolled her eyes.

"We'll get a cart ready then. We'll be bringing your bags with us as well. The commander will check in on us later in the week. He said wants to see how the gun you brought breaks apart."

"About that, where is it?" Evelyn's eyes focused on the bookshelf where the gun magazine was hidden between some books.

"At the moment, with the commander."

"He better not lose it." Evelyn looked back at Hange.

"Nothing you brought will be lost, it's too valuable." Hange said.

Evelyn didn't know whether to feel relieved or insulted at the thought of her belongings suddenly having another claim placed on them. One that she could not simply shake off.

"And what about clothing?" Evelyn asked. "I can't keep stealing your clothes."

"If you won't let me close, you won't let a tailor do their job." Hange shook her head. "You can wear your own clothing in the castle but for training and anything where others not in the know are, you'll have to make do with what I gave you for now."

"Unless," Hange tapped her chin thoughtfully. "If you like the fit, we could use my measurements."

Evelyn tugged at her waist band. "It's a little tight for that, I think I have bigger hips than you. The jacket fits fine though."

"Alright, I have to prepare things for tomorrow. I'll stop by with some food later for you."

"Thank you." Evelyn looked from Hange towards the bookshelf.

_Might as well browse a bit._

* * *

_**I know I'm not the most touchy-feely author but I do want to thank anyone that takes time to read through this stuff. I probably wouldn't have kept writing if it weren't for the people following and seemingly enjoying this. So again, thanks!**_


	11. Settling In

"You're not controlling the wagon on your own." Hange said as Evelyn jumped onto the front of a covered wagon. "Look at what happened last time you were in control of a horse."

"Then how am I supposed to get at a safe distance from the driver?" Evelyn protested.

Hange shrugged. "Sit in the back with your bags if you're that worried."

"I'm more annoyed that you're not worried." Evelyn called out as she climbed over barrels and crates of supplies.

"Call it a gut feeling."

"I'll call it reckless." Evelyn mumbled lowly as she tried to find something to use as a cushion near her things in the back of the covered wagon.

"So, who gets the pleasure of being my chauffeur then?" Evelyn yelled.

"Your what?" Moblit asked as he climbed onto the wagon bench.

"The driver, but I guess that's your job."

"You sure you don't want company?" Hange had mounted her horse and positioned herself close to the back of the wagon. "You mentioned having some questions of your own about our history."

"For the love of," Evelyn grumbled. "Hange! Please, just give me some space. I'm trying to save both of us here. Besides, Commander Erwin would kill us if we discuss these things in the open. I'll just read some more from this history book for now."

"Alright." Hange shoulders slumped slightly as she rode off.

As Evelyn managed to find a somewhat comfortable position to settle down, she opened the history book she borrowed from her previous room.

"What's the point of this? We have better things to do." A male voice next to the wagon said loudly.

"We'll just be training and doing what we normally do anyway," a female voice chimed in.

"But why do we have to spend more than two weeks..."

Both parties' voices faded into the distance as they walked past the cart. Evelyn couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt build up inside her.

"Hey," Moblit called out over his shoulder. He turned his body the best he could to face Evelyn. "We all know about disease and the horrors it can bring. It's just a little difficult to believe without seeing any signs of you showing one."

Evelyn closed the book in her lap and looked up. "It's so much more complicated than that though. I'd explain it here but I can't put the highest-ranking officers at risk by having them ride in the wagon with me."

"The section commander wouldn't mind, as long as she can learn more about it. I had to talk her into taking you seriously and staying away."

Evelyn chuckled, "Didn't really help much did it?"

Moblit let out an exhausted sigh, "It never does."

"Well, since we have the time, want to help me figure out the best way to explain this to them?"

"Sure, although, wait until we head out."

* * *

The ride to the castle took the entire morning and when they arrived the calls for lunch came from all around.

"Hi-ya!" Hange rode around the back of the stopped wagon as Evelyn tried to sling her backpack on her left shoulder. "Need a hand?"

"Cute." Evelyn stared at the woman unamused. "What's the plan?"

"First, we need people to cook lunch, Captain Levi will want everyone to work on cleaning after and/or during that, rooms need to be assigned, oh and the horses will need to be taken care of as well."

"If you don't mind, I'll cook for myself." Evelyn slung the strap of her smaller backpack around her shoulder.

"I wouldn't move anything until we have a plan." Hange said. "If you want to help cook, I'll see who else wants to..."

"No," Evelyn interrupted. "I'm only going to make my food. I know it sounds mean but it's really just a precaution."

"Because you don't want to infect anyone." Hange sighed.

Evelyn nodded. "Just let me know what supplies I can use. I'll stay as far away from the others as I can."

"I presume you won't eat with us either then." Hange stated.

"Only if we're outside and far apart."

"You know that the other soldiers will complain about special treatment, don't you? While you don't want to infect everyone, I must insist on you eating what everyone else does before any complaints arise." Evelyn narrowed her eyes at the thought of the bland food she'd have to eat but without salt and other spices, there wasn't much she could do to improve it herself.

"Fine," Evelyn sighed. "I get it, what should I do then?"

"Why don't you double check the supplies for now? Cleaning and cooking could be difficult with your injury."

"She can still dust." Levi said as he rode up to Hange. "The storage room needs to be cleaned before we unload the carts."

"Oh, don't be so harsh, I'll find something for her." Hange said looking between him and Evelyn.

"I won't tolerate dead weight."

Taken aback, Evelyn asked, "What, exactly, did I do to ruffle your feathers?"

Levi regarded the woman before looking elsewhere and riding off.

Caught off guard, Evelyn fought to find any words to respond before stomping the ground, balling her hands into fists and letting out a low, wordless frustrated growl.

Hange placed her hand lightly on Evelyn's shoulder. "Don't worry about him, here's the supply list. It should be worked out first."

Glad for the distraction, Evelyn quickly scanned the list. "Is this the variety of food you normally have? There's little to no meat."

"With the fall of Wall Maria, we've lost most of the farm land and land dedicated to raising livestock. Meat has become a rarity."

"Where do you get your protein from? If you can't raise cattle, do you have enough supplies for chickens? Eggs would be a staple of anyone's diet who wants to build muscle."

"Chickens may require less room but they still take up resources. We're already facing food shortages; we can't waste it on feeding more mouths."

"Yeah, but chickens can be used for eggs and meat. Both things that you need and they'll eat damn near everything, even scraps. I really don't see why they're not more common."

Hange shrugged.

"While we're on the topic of food, mind if we go for a jog later?" Evelyn suggested.

"You sure you want me running next to you?" Hange asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, I want us to maintain a good distance from each other. But, I also want to check the forest for food."

"We brought food." Hange tapped the list.

"Yes, but if you really do have a food shortage, we should look into growing more. I will at least; the last thing I want is a lack of wild berries or herbs because you lot don't know about potted plants. Now, do you know if anyone here knows the local fauna? I don't plan on death by berries."

"If we could grow more, we would. It's easy to say these things, but it's not like we haven't tried to...wait, potted plants?" Hange looked at Evelyn skeptically. "Wouldn't the plant run out of nutrients?"

"Not if it's given the nutrients back through fertilization, and you could grow more crops for a longer period of time than if they were outside."

"What do you mean? Bringing the plants under shelter will extend their life? They wouldn't get enough sunlight."

"Uh, that's what greenhouses are for." Evelyn stated in a condescending manner.

"You seem to forget yourself." Hange said in a serious tone with a slight glare, her features seeming to sharpen.

Evelyn managed to hide the pang of fear that built in her stomach from showing in her features. "Right, sorry. Greenhouses are buildings with windows as walls, basically. It helps to build a warm environment for the plants. They're used to grow crops year-round in my world but I don't know how helpful they'll be here. But it should allow you to grow more food than usual."

"I'll have to discuss this with the Commander when he checks in later in the week." Hange mused.

"Either way, we have more important things to focus on than finding more food at the moment. I have to go help Levi make a plan with getting everything else set up. Moblit and some others will help to move the food out of the wagon, you just need to find the right crates." Hange waved as she took a step backwards before fully turning around to bring her horse to the nearby stable.

Help soon came to unload more crates from her wagon and others parked close by. Evelyn focused on the food first and politely directed the soldiers. At first, she questioned why they followed her directions but soon saw that they would look toward Moblit who would nod at them in response.

"How's it going?" Hange asked no one in particular as she looked around.

"The cooks for today already took what they needed, but the rest needs to be brought to the cellar." Moblit picked up one of the last crates on a nearby wagon.

"Did you need something else?" Evelyn asked.

"You're in luck." Hange said excitedly. "I managed to talk Levi into leaving us off the cleaning roster but you'll still have to clean the room assigned to you yourself. I don't know if anyone knows their way around the plants in the forest. We'll check it out after lunch. Until then, I can show you around. The others already know the layout."

"That would be great," Evelyn went to grab what she could of her things and handed the supply list off to Moblit.

* * *

Levi glanced into a room as he walked up to an open door in the hallway before stopping in the doorway. Evelyn had climbed a wooden chair and was seemingly examining the wall. "Get those boots off the chair." A strong scent seemed to permeate the room. "And what is that smell?"

"I mixed some citrus fruit we found in the woods with the cleaning solution. Gives it that clean smell." Evelyn said loudly to compensate for her not breaking her concentration on the wall.

"It overpowers the room and hides other scents."

"That's kind of the point." Evelyn shrugged, her back still turned to him.

"Redo the room; that smell needs to go."

"Ex-cuse you!" Evelyn felt her cheeks redden and she turned to jump down from the chair. Nearly forgetting to keep her distance, she stopped herself from towering over the man. "This is my room; I'll clean it how I want to. I'm the only one who'll deal with it. I want the smell and it'll stay right where it is."

"Your room? This was an official Scouts headquarters, not your home. Follow orders." Levi looked at her arm in the sling and paused for a moment in consideration. "Laundry duty for a week, without help." Looking her in the eyes, he continued, "Talk back and I'll make it two."

Evelyn couldn't keep her nose from twitching in anger. Her face twisted in a snarl, she turned around and grabbed a dust rag.

"I didn't hear a 'yes sir'."

Turning back to the door Evelyn motioned for the man to move aside. "Don't push it, we both know this is all a charade. Please step aside so I can get more cleaning supplies **_sir_**." Her tongue dripped with malice.

"Two weeks," Levi turned to leave before stopping to look over his shoulder. "And, my handkerchief will be returned tonight. Clean."

As Levi walked down the hall, the memory of the unfamiliar scent lingered. He had always used the neutral scent of a clean room to help gauge how his subordinates cleaned. If she had waited for him to inspect the room before using it, he would have called it pleasant.

A loud bang trembled through the hall behind him as he calmly continued on.

* * *

Evelyn let out a frustrated shriek after throwing all her might into slamming the door.

_I could just go to Hange, talk with her about this. It's ridiculous!_

_She'll just tell you that he's a superior officer. You'll waste time and when he comes to see that his task hasn't been completed or isn't being worked on, he'll come up with something worse._

Evelyn punched what she was sure the others thought was a good excuse for a mattress sloppily with her non-dominant arm.

_Just get it done and talk with Hange later. Maybe if I can convince her it's fine if I hang up the hammock, Shorty won't have room to complain._

Evelyn took a few deep breaths to center herself before leaving to find untainted cleaning supplies.

Returning to her room with the supplies, anger still permeated every part of her being.

Looking for a distraction, she instinctively took out her phone and sighed. She turned it on and looked at the battery level. 37%.

With the supplies leaning against the wall, Evelyn sat on the edge of the bed with her phone in hand. Pictures, games, music, she had all the distractions she could want at her fingertips. And yet, she couldn't will her fingers to move.

The battery level dropped by a percent before Evelyn forced herself to open the music app. She hit shuffle and skipped through songs at random. Evaluating each one and finding that they were not special enough or that they simply didn't feel right. Deciding on a song, she laid the phone on the nightstand and began to work towards cleaning the room a second time.

* * *

"Do you hear something?" Petra asked.

Oulo stopped polishing the outside of a large intricate glass window and looked toward her.

"Petra, my dear, you have such an active imagination. Try not to let it distract you."

Petra narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Stop calling me that. Just listen."

Oulo tilted his head and looked upwards out of the corner of his eyes. After a second, he returned to cleaning the window.

"There's nothing there, let's finish this up."

"In a second, I want to know what that sound is."

"There is no..."

Petra descended down the side of the tower with the help of her OMD gear before Oulo could finish. The noise began to grow louder along with a second voice that sang along. She moved around the side of the building before stopping in an open window.

Evelyn had her back turned to the window while scrubbing a desk and singing along with music that came from seemingly nowhere. She turned around and jumped at the sight of Petra. Her good arm brought her hand to cover her heart.

"Jesus lady!" Evelyn cried. "Knock first, would ya?"

"Sorry," Petra cringed slightly in embarrassment, "I was just following the sound of the music."

Evelyn looked at her phone and Petra followed her gaze.

"Is it coming from that black box?"

"Yeah." Evelyn starred at the woman hanging in her window. After a moment of silence she raised her eyebrows and tilted her head down. "Can I help you somehow?"

Petra shook her head and moved her gaze from the item to Evelyn.

"No, sorry. It's simply interesting."

"The phone or the music?" Evelyn chuckled at Petra's facial expression.

"Both." As the song ended and another began, Petra's eye lit up in wonder. "It can play more than one song?"

"Oh hun," Evelyn couldn't help but feel entertained and welcomed the interruption. "It can play a lot more than that."

"Petra," Oulo called before appearing next to her in the window. "What is that racket?"

"It's music." Petra glared at him for a second before returning to listening to the music.

"It's noise." Oluo scoffed.

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "You guys going to hang out there all day?"

"Evelyn?" Hange's voice called from the hallway. "I wanted to discuss, oh, hello." Hange stopped in the door way. "I didn't know you were having a party."

Hange moved to enter the room before Evelyn held her left hand out. "Hange, out."

"Why are you letting them in but not me?" Hange crossed her arms.

Evelyn groaned. "I didn't let anyone in, they're crowding the window. And I have a job to do. Would you all mind giving me some space?"

Petra nodded and grabbed Oulo by the arm, pulling him to the side before they both disappeared.

"I wanted to discuss this week's plans with you," Hange said while leaning against the door and crossing her arms.

Evelyn laughed robotically, "I've already managed to get a big job."

"Really?" Hange raised an eyebrow.

"Yup, I get to do the laundry for two weeks. All on my own." Evelyn finished in a sing song voice before her face morphed into an unamused frown.

Hange narrowed her eyes, "and how did you manage to get that job?"

Evelyn threw her left hand in the arm while her right forearm moved upward slightly before she grimaced and let it back down gently. "I wanted my room to smell clean."

"Did you get Levi mad?"

"Is there a time when he's not mad?"

Hange chuckled and shook her head. "I'll see if I can talk him down. I wanted to make a plan with you and Petra about your training and when we can discuss other matters."

Evelyn sighed, "I need to get started on the laundry part here soon if I want to get my job for today done. Can we talk over dinner?" A sly smile spread across her face. "Oh, by the way. Would you have anything against me hanging up my hammock in here?"

Hange seemed to instantly come to life. "Of course not. Can I help? You still haven't told me what it is."

"How about I show you later then? Since I have your permission after all. By the way, you out rank a Captain as a Section Commander, right?"

Hange tapped her nose mischievously. "My, my, you are quite the sneak aren't you?"

Evelyn rolled her eyes playfully and shrugged.

Hange grinned, "Like I said, I'll talk with him. Moblit's still in the courtyard, he can show you where to go. I'll check up on you later."

* * *

"Oh Levi!" Hange called out in a delighted tone. She peeked her head into the room they decided was to be his office.

The man had wrapped a white cloth around his face as he cleaned the room.

"What do you want four-eyes?" Levi asked without looking up.

"I heard someone volunteered to do the laundry." Hange examined her fingernails. "And, all on her own."

Levi scoffed, "She needs to learn to take orders. You're not getting her out of it."

"Oh, that wasn't my plan. Although, I seem to remember another cadet who wasn't particularly fond of taking orders."

"And now he follows them."

_Only from Erwin._

Hange pushed the thought aside and continued, "While I agree she needs to be broken in a bit, you can't seriously expect her to do it all on her own. Not in her condition."

Levi turned to look at Hange. "If I assign someone to help the brat, they'll do the work themselves. That's not a punishment."

"Then I'll help her." Hange suggested.

"So you two can gossip all day? No, that won't come across as a punishment either."

"Then what do you suggest?" Hange crossed her arms.

* * *

"Sorry, I know it's hard to keep some distance while teaching you this." Moblit said while grabbing a washboard from the wall.

Evelyn sighed. "I'm starting to think I should just let you all do what you want. No one seems to care anyway."

The pair walked toward a wooden tub. Moblit placed the washboard inside before looking at Evelyn sympathetically.

"Just remember what we talked about, Hange may still not heed your advice but the others might. Now we just need some water. I asked Keiji to unload a barrel and bring it here. In the meantime, Levi squad brought most of the bedding down already. That's going to be your priority."

"Um, one second," Evelyn interrupted. "I never used a washboard before. Is there anything I need to know or is it really just scrubbing the life out of whatever I'm washing?"

Moblit froze for a second before smiling, "It's a washboard, you just scrub."

Evelyn laughed, "I think you just understood the feeling I've been struggling with since I got here."

"Tea time is over. Berner, stop helping her. This is her job." A deep voice said from behind Evelyn. She felt her shoulders sink in response.

Moblit saluted. "Yessir."

"He's just showing me how things work around here." Evelyn turned to face the one person she dreaded seeing the most.

Levi had his arms crossed and stood to the side of the door allowing Moblit to leave.

"You'll do fine, it's easy. I'll go check on that water." Moblit waved before leaving.

Avoiding any form of contact, Evelyn moved to examine a wicker basket with bed sheets messily thrown in. The sheets didn't seem that dirty, just a bit dusty. She lightly tapped the basket with her foot. It moved across the stone floor with little resistance. She planned to lead the basket to the wooden tub with the washboard this way but after moving it twice and having the basket make unpleasant scrapping sounds, she heard a scoff behind her.

"Move."

Evelyn jumped slightly to the side and turned to see Levi pick up the basket and place it to the side of the tub.

Seeing Evelyn hesitate, he raised an eyebrow and nodded to the tub.

Evelyn shook her head, "I still need water and soap."

Levi let out an annoyed breath through his nose before turning and grabbing a package on a nearby table and holding it out to her.

"How much do I use?" Evelyn asked sheepishly. Her anger at the man could not overshadow the self-doubt of being able to complete the task before her.

"As much as it takes."

"Well duh, but how many bubbles does that soap make? How strong is it?"

"It's soap, just use it." Levi shook the package lightly.

Frustrated, Evelyn grabbed it from him and dumped some in the tub along with some of the bed sheets.

Levi raised an eyebrow looking into the tub but said nothing.

Before Evelyn could ask what was wrong, a voice called out from the door.

"Water delivery, sir."

Moblit and another man had rolled in a large barrel.

"Where do you want it?"

Levi motioned to the side of the tub. The men set the barrel upright and handed Evelyn a tankard before opening the barrel and leaving.

Evelyn began moving water into the tub as Levi stood nearby with his arms crossed. She sat on a stool near the tub and awkwardly held the washboard against her waist with her bad arm. Her knees closed around the sides for support as she leaned over the tub.

After scrubbing sloppily with her left arm for some time, she heard a scoff.

"Are you always this useless?"

"Are you always micromanaging?"

"You've never worked a day in your life, have you? Drop it." Levi rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows.

Stunned, Evelyn let go of the washboard. Levi pushed her aside and scrubbed the sheet before holding it out in front of him.

"This is how it's supposed to look."

"Oh, I'm sorry the cripple can't scrub well with her non-dominant arm. And for your information I worked tougher jobs than this."

"Doubtful. Get another washboard and start scrubbing. I'll finish what you can't handle."

A mix of shame and anger brewed in Evelyn's stomach. "Why are you even here? Don't you have something more important to do?"

"Are you saying laundry isn't important?"

Evelyn ignored his dodge, "I'm just surprised an officer would get his hands dirty."

"Everyone pulls their weight here. Welcome to the real world."

* * *

**_Sorry, it's taken me so long to update. I'm at a point where I write fragments of what I plan on happening and try to piece the puzzle together believably and naturally._**

**_I'll also be honest and say that if I'm not in the mood to write, I do not write well and I didn't want to publish something I wasn't at least pleased with. I actually wrote the next chapter before finishing this one so that one should be coming soon. It just needs some finishing touches._**

**_Hope you're all being safe out there and thanks for checking in on my story again._**


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